


The Witch's Promise

by thorkified



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Blood Magic, Dark Magic, Emotional Sex, Lies, M/M, Magic, Meant To Be, Minor Character Death, Past Kidnapping, Revenge, Sacrifice, Secrets, Strangers to Lovers, Unknown Past, Violence, Witchcraft, huntsman!Thor, soulmates (in a way), witch!loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-08 10:53:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16428002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thorkified/pseuds/thorkified
Summary: Thor, a huntsman on a quest to save his sister, came to the witch Loki when a curse threatened to kill him. Now, as a price for removing the curse, the witch owns his life. What Loki did not expect is to begin to care for Thor and when Thor’s life is once more in danger, Loki is willing to save him with his magic, but the price he pays is nearly too much. For reasons Loki cannot explain, he survives, but why he is willing to risk so much for a human he barely knows?It’s only when Thor says something very familiar about his own sister that Loki finally makes the connection between the huntsman and himself. Now, everything will be put on the line when he comes to Thor's aid. When the truth is finally revealed, Loki will have to make a choice that will change the world as he knows it forever and that will affect not only him, but the huntsman and his sister too.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Life For A Life](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14738723) by [thorkified](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thorkified/pseuds/thorkified). 
  * Inspired by [Amazing Art for this fic!!](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/429413) by led-lite on tumblr. 



> For the prequel, please read the linked fic "A Life For A Life". This can, of course, be read as a standalone fic too, but it will all make a little more sense that way.

Loki didn't expect Thor to return anytime soon, knowing that he still had a long way to go to find his sister. He was patient, making sure that his life went on the way it had before they met. Surprisingly, this was a more difficult task than he had expected. Despite only knowing the huntsman for a few hours, Loki had grown fond of him. The fact that  a human would create such emotions in him was nothing he had ever considered and it was confusing. But somehow, it was reassuring too, in a calming way that was very foreign for him.

Summer slowly came to an end and when the seasons changed, Loki felt a sudden melancholy he wasn't used to. Weeks had passed without any news from Thor and without wanting to, it raised his concern. He checked on the huntsman more regularly through the spell on the crystal he had given him, relieved to find  him alive and well every time. 

During the fall, Loki told himself that he was simply making sure Thor survived to pay his debt, even if he became less and less convinced by his own lie. He wanted the huntsman to return to him, but he couldn’t tell why. It was almost as if he was under a spell, ironic given that he was the master of those himself. And yet, Thor had a power over him he could not explain, no matter how much he tried. It was something rooted deep inside his soul, something that had no face or name, but his yearning came almost natural to him.

When the first snow fell and covered the forest in silence and cold, Loki couldn't lie to himself any longer. He missed Thor. Winter had always been Loki's favorite season, a time when the world was quiet, humans stayed inside and the days were the shortest. During the long, silent nights, Loki turned to his preparations for the upcoming spring and studies, and the forest was filled with his powerful, unwavering magic. He knew even the humans could feel it and it had always kept them far, far away from him.

This winter, however, Loki could barely focus enough on his daily tasks without his mind wandering. No one came near his hut, not even the deer that visited regularly in search for food, and while he would have enjoyed the peace and quiet before, he now felt uneasy and wary. There were still things he had to take care of and he attended them the best he could, but something just didn't feel right. 

During the winter solstice, a very important day for Loki to strengthen and focus his powers, he suddenly felt a disturbing shift in his mind. He was in the forest, preparing himself for the ritual of nightfall, when it happened. His fur coat was draped on the ground around him, when suddenly something cut through his meditative state. Loki’s eyes widened and he clutched the crystal around his neck instinctively. For a moment, he just stared into the forest where the last bit of daylight slowly faded away, waiting for an explanation that didn't come. It created an unknown fear in the witch and he realized something was very, very wrong.

“Spirits of the night, I call upon you,” Loki whispered, closing his eyes and rolling his head back. “I, as a loyal servant of your ways, ask for your help in this moment of need. Let me see, through your eyes, and reveal the reason for this disturbance in my clarity.”

The silence was broken by a strong gust of ice cold wind that hit Loki hard. His eyes ripped open, staring into the sky,but their usual emerald green had turned completely black.

“Let me see, powerful spirits!” Loki's voice had gone dark and raspy, echoing through the twilight around him. “Show me what I cannot see myself!”

The vision hit Loki so hard it threw him backwards, but he didn't feel any pain when his back was cut open on a stone and his body slumped into the snow. He was conscious, but the world around him had disappeared, replaced by a place far, far away. He saw through the eyes of something else and it exponentially intensified his fear. Loki felt his heart at his throat at what he saw. 

Thor leaned against a large rock, covered in blood and a hand pressed tightly over his stomach. Blood oozed out between his fingers and his face was a mask of pain and suffering. All around him laid unmoving men and the ground was drenched with the bloody aftermath of what must have been a fight for life or death.

Loki knew Thor could not see him, but through the crystal around the huntsman’s neck - bloody but still there - he knew he was able to reach him.

“Thor, listen to me…” Loki's voice came out as a hushed chant and he saw the huntsman open his eyes slowly, searching for it.

“Loki?” Thor sounded so weak and confused it made the witch’s chest ache.

“I can save you, but you must trust me,” Loki whispered and ripped the crystal off his neck. Without seeing his own world, Loki put it in front of him on the coat and dragged himself into a kneeling position. “The crystal I gave you, you have to take it off.”

It took Thor all of his strength to follow Loki's request and when he held the cold, black stone in his hand, a terrible cough shook his body. Loki prayed to the Gods that it would pass and when it finally did, a sound of relief escaped his throat.

“Put it on your wound and hold it there,” Loki instructed as his hands already began moving over his own crystal. “You have to stay awake, please… it will be alright, I promise.”

Through his vision, Loki saw that Thor did as he was instructed, his hands shaking and his face turning pale. Thor's eyes were dark, almost as if their light was vanishing, and Loki knew he was running out of time. He closed his eyes without losing the vision, picking up a sharp rock from the ground and  drove it into the palm of his left hand, letting the blood run all over the crystal in front of him. He knew what he was doing, even if he had never done it before. It might be dangerous, but he had to do it.

“Blood to blood, life to life, I call upon the forces in me to save this human! Take my blood, the source of my life, and save his in this darkest of nights! With this, I make the sacrifice of sacrifices, a life to save a life, my blood for his, my life for you to fulfill my wish!”

The crystal beneath Loki's hands began to glow and only seconds later Thor’s did too, drawing the life from the witch to save the huntsman. It was a painful process, one that was not without a reason a witch’s last act if done right.  But Loki was willing to do it, even if he had to give his life for the mortal.

“I call upon the forces of the night, to save this human from the grip of death, for his time is not over yet! Take what is mine and give it to him, with my blood and powers I summon you! Take my life and give it to him, I offer it to you willingly tonight, with my blood singing this contract.”

The energy flowing through Loki had never before been stronger and he could feel it being drained from his body to complete the spell. A life for a life, just as he had foretold. When he met Thor, Loki would have never thought that the life given would be his own, but now he was glad it was. He smiled and closed his eyes, spreading his arms and letting the magic in him work as it pleased. Thor would live, that was all that mattered.

Suddenly, there was a moment of unfiltered and intense pain that threw Loki back and made him howl in agony - and then, without a warning, everything vanished. The vision was gone, Thor disappeared before his eyes and Loki simply collapsed onto the cold, hard ground. His eyes closed and through the crack, Loki watched the world turn black. 


	2. Chapter 2

When Loki opened his eyes again, a new day had already begun. He was stiff from the cold, pain radiating through every inch of his body and felt as weak as never before, but he lived. With a sigh, still unable to move, Loki closed his eyes again for a moment. It had worked, by the Gods, it had worked! A wave of laughter shook the witch so violently that it turned into a coughing fit that forcefully pushed him up. It lasted for over a minute and when it finally faded, Loki spit out a mouthful of blood into the snow, struggling to regain his breath.

Loki couldn't see Thor anymore, but he could feel that the spell had saved him. By using his blood as a sacrifice, he had done the only thing he could to make it powerful enough to work and he was unspeakably relieved that it had succeeded. The spell had drained him to the point where it could have killed him, but somehow it hadn't. For whatever reason, Loki was alive and Thor was too, no matter where he was right now. Once his powers had recovered he would check on the huntsman, but for now the relief was too overwhelming to think about that.

It took Loki almost half an hour before he managed to get back on his feet. His legs were trembling and he had to lean against a tree for support, but eventually he stood again. Now that his back was straight, he felt the pain come back, sharp and intense. Loki tried his best to grit his teeth and ignore his sore, weakened body and began gathering his belongings. As he did, he noticed the blood on one of the rocks and shook his head with a smirk. That explained his back pain at least, interesting. When everything was back in his possession and he wrapped the coat around his shoulders, it was almost noon.

Loki’s way back home was agonizing and draining, with each step sending pinprick-like waves of pain through every last one of his nerves. More than once he had to stop to catch his breath, and what had been a twenty minute long walk the day before, now turned into a two hour journey of torture. Once he finally made it back, Loki collapsed on his bed without anything he could do to revitalize his body.

For over twelve hours, Loki was out cold. When he woke up again he felt even weaker than before, but at least the exhaustion and some of the pain were less intense. He actually managed to stand up after a few minutes, a little crooked but steady, and took a deep breath. There were things to do and the first of them was to regain his strength. That was after he had made sure Thor was alive and recovering. Yes, he would do that first. He just had to.

Loki took the crystal out of his coat and walked over to a bowl filled with water from the nearby creek. He carefully cleaned his blood off the black stone and then pressed it against his heart, closed his eyes and focused what energy he had left in him.

“Thor? Can you hear me?”

For a minute, nothing happened and Loki feared he might not be strong enough anymore to reach the other, but then the crystal in his hands suddenly vibrated ever so slightly and Thor’s voice reached his ears. It was quiet and weak, but it was him.

“Loki? Is that really you?”

“Yes,” Loki smiled warmly. “It’s me. I want to check on you.”

“Wow…” Thor’s voice vanished for a moment, but when it came back it was a little stronger than before. “I thought I was dreaming and then… what happened? How did you do that?”

Loki took a deep breath and sat down on the floor. His legs were shaking and he didn’t want to lose his focus and break the connection.

“I prepared for a ritual during the winter solstice, it’s something I always do, and I felt something happen. I don’t know what it was, but I knew it wasn’t right. You fought, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I… yes,” Thor sounded exhausted himself, but there was something else in his voice that made Loki feel warm inside. Life. Thor was alive and Loki could hear it loud and clear, no matter how far away the huntsman was. “I was ambushed by a bunch of thieves when I put up a camp for the night. I didn’t even realize that one of them hit me.”

“I believe I did,” Loki sighed. It must have been this moment when he felt the disturbance. “I was meditating and it felt as if something had cut through my mind. Something felt completely wrong after that.”

“It  _ was  _ wrong,” Thor said and then actually laughed quietly. “I only noticed something happened when I fell back and couldn’t move anymore. I believe I blacked out for a moment or two because I suddenly heard your voice and thought I was hallucinating.”

“I was so scared that you’d die, Thor,” Loki whispered, unable to raise his voice. Just thinking back to how his throat became dry when he had seen the huntsman and how his chest had tightened made him feel horrible all over again. “I didn’t even know if I could do anything, but I had to try…”

“I would have died without your help, Loki,” Thor sighed thankfully. “I’m glad you did whatever you did, because it worked. What did you do anyway?”

“A life for a life, you remember?” Loki asked, smiling sadly. “I guess I was wrong, it was never your life I would take.”

“You did… Loki, what do you mean, you took your life?”

“No, I… I didn’t,” Loki said awkwardly. “I was ready to do it though.”

“But… why? Why would you do that?”

Loki stayed silent for a moment, unsure of how to explain the way he had felt in this moment. Back then it was just the right thing to do. Thor had been on the verge of death and all he had wanted was to save him somehow.

“The spell I used…” Loki began, feeling that this way he could get the words out easier. “It’s very dark and powerful magic, Thor. Spells like this require a sacrifice that strengthens it and…”

“You were ready to use your life for it,” Thor ended Loki’s sentence and the witch nodded.

“Yes, I was.” Saying it out loud made all of this much more real somehow. Loki had been ready to end his life to save the huntsman’s - a human he had only met once before. It was scary somehow, because this never happened before. “I don’t think it would have worked had it not been this special night, or if I would have tried to use anything less than my life for it… I don’t even want to think about what would have happened had it failed…”

“Don’t, please,” Thor said calmly and the warm tone of his voice made Loki smirk again. “It worked, you saved me. A second time.”

“And I would do it again if I had to,” Loki whispered sincerely. “The spell took my power and gave it to you and for whatever reason it didn’t kill me, just weakened me severely.”

“I’m glad you are alive, Loki.” There was nothing but honesty in Thor’s voice and it made Loki feel a little better. “I don’t think I would be able to keep going if you had died saving me.”

“No, don’t say that.” Loki shook his head slowly. “You  _ need  _ to keep going, no matter what. Your sister is waiting for you, I know that. It’s not important what happens to me, I have been here long enough already. She is the one you have to live for.”

“Loki…”

“No, listen to me, please.” Loki shook his head again, more eagerly this time. He had to say this now, maybe it was his last chance. “I’m not sure how long I can keep this connection up, my head is becoming dizzy already.” 

“Yes, alright... I will listen.”

“I am glad I could save you and I don’t regret offering my life for yours. I don’t know why I did it, other than that it was what I felt I needed to do. Maybe I followed my heart, I can’t tell. But you live, that’s important and I’m thankful for that.”

“So am I, I can assure you that.” Thor’s voice sounded quiet now, as if it was fading away again, and Loki pressed the crystal even closer to his chest.

“I know I said I want you to return and that your life belongs to me, but it doesn’t, it never will. Something about you made me want to help you lift the curse, that’s why I did it. You don’t owe me anything, not your life or your loyalty, nothing. If you don’t wish to come back I won’t punish or kill you, no matter what I said before.  _ I won’t _ . Something happened, something I cannot explain, but I know now that you belong to yourself and no one else.”

“You are giving me my life back?” Thor asked and Loki smiled sadly.

“I can’t give you back what I never had. You are special, I can feel that, even if I don’t understand why. Go find your sister, Thor. Find her, save her, and live the life you wish to live. On your terms, not on mine or anyone else’s.”

“I gave you my word, Loki,” Thor said, now so quiet that Loki could barely hear his voice anymore. He tried to focus harder, force himself to hear, but he lost the connection and knew it. “I keep my promises…”

And with those words, Thor was gone. Loki was too weak to even think, to do more than allowing his body to become limp and sink down on the floor. He still held the crystal against his chest tight, undoubtedly leaving a deep mark on his skin from the edge, and just laid there for a long, long time. He didn’t sleep or pass out, simply stared into the distance in silence.


	3. Chapter 3

During the weeks that followed after the events on winter solstice, Loki wouldn’t even leave his hut anymore, isolating himself from the outside world completely. The spell to save Thor and the strength he needed to speak to him had been too much and left him in a state much worse than he had ever deemed possible. Loki spent most of the first week either deep asleep or barely conscious, forcing himself to eat and drink whenever he was able to get out of bed and praying that this would be over soon and he would stop feeling so miserable.

At times, especially when he drifted into another episode of his almost comatose sleep, Loki feared that he would not recover this time. His powers just wouldn’t come back and he had not even been able to help the wound on his back heal either, no matter how hard he had tried. In the past there had been times when Loki used too much of his magic and weakened himself, but it had never been this bad before. He had always recovered and came out stronger than before, no matter what. But this time, something was different. 

Did he unknowingly do more than just save Thor’s life with his spell? Had he taken something from the huntsman in exchange for his life, something that was now going to be the end of his? Loki didn’t know, but he could barely muster the strength to care most of the time, so he forced himself to not think about it too much. If he had taken a curse or a hex that was going to kill him now, he couldn’t do anything about it anyway, not in his current condition. He had never been more glad to live that deep in the forest, because he wouldn’t have been able to defend himself against anyone like this. He would be a perfect target.

It took another week before Loki noticed the first improvement and when he did, it felt like he had been reborn like a phoenix from the ashes. He woke up one morning with a strange feeling in his stomach and it took him a whole minute to pin down what caused it; hunger. For the first time in weeks, Loki felt actually hungry and the realization almost drove tears into his eyes. Never before had a rabbit tasted so good and incredible and he thanked the Gods for granting him this little creature stumbling into one of the traps near his hut, because he would have never made it in and out of the forest alive to find another.

After the first cooked meal in weeks, Loki started to regain some of his hope. The wound on his back had healed mostly by now, even without his magic speeding up the process, and with a full stomach it was much easier to tell himself that he was on his way to recovery again. He even managed to get up and properly wash and dress himself, which he knew was long overdue and made him feel much more comfortable. From this day on, things finally started to get better.

Despite missing the beginning of the new year and the rituals to go with that special night, Loki still felt the magic surrounding him when he finally stepped outside again. He sat down near his hut, on one of the big stones that built a perfect circle, and allowed his magic to come back to him through the air. It weakened his defense to some degree, but once he had fully recovered he would build it up again and during this time of the year no human would come to this place anyway. After meditating for an hour, Loki felt much better already. He was still far from his goal, but he was getting there.

His isolation, even though helpful for his recovery, brought some uncomfortable thoughts with it, however. Most of them revolved around Thor and Loki’s last conversation with him. There were many times when Loki wanted to speak to the huntsman again, but he wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea or not. Thor was alive, that much he knew, and he was not wounded or sick, so maybe he should be glad about that and not push it any further. After all, he  _ had  _ told him to live his life alone, hadn’t he? Thor was free from the fear of being under his control now and Loki couldn’t imagine why he would even want to speak to him anymore after this. Loki tried his best to banish the thoughts about Thor far back into his mind, but he couldn’t deny that he experienced something completely new to him. He suddenly felt very lonely.

Loki was used to solitude for most of his life and found comfort in it. Loneliness, on the other hand, was not something he could deal with so easily. It had been confusing enough already when he had realized he cared about a human, but that he missed him so much he actually felt loneliness now was much worse. He didn’t even know Thor, really, apart from the things he had discovered through his magic, so how and why did he feel this way? Why was the solitary witch suddenly so lost without a simple human?

Several days passed in which Loki tried everything he physically and mentally could to keep Thor off his mind. He meditated, collected ingredients for spells and potions, despite most of the forest still being hidden under a cover of snow, and when he realized his thoughts were wandering, he pressed a finger into the palm of his left hand, sending a sharp pain through his arm for distraction. The wound he had inflicted on himself weeks ago had healed, but when he pressed hard enough he managed to break through the slightly thinner skin and it was more than once his last option to not think about the huntsman.

Then, when Loki prepared to go to bed one evening, he suddenly felt something strange. The crystal around his neck was warm, which confused him greatly because it was always cold, even when he held it for several minutes. Curiously, he wrapped a hand around it and closed his eyes. For a moment nothing happened and then he felt the vibration, slow and weak, but very persistent. Loki frowned. Could this be what he thought it was? 

“Thor?” Loki asked into the empty room, not really expecting an answer apart from silence, but still very curious. This couldn’t be, no. There was no way the huntsman was able to create a connection the same way he had before, absolutely not. Thor was not a witch after all, he didn’t possess any magic! When he got an answer, however, Loki stumbled backwards in surprise and dropped down on his bed.

“Loki, thank the Gods!”

“Thor, how did you do this?” Loki asked, almost yelled in his shock, and gripped the crystal tighter. “What is going on?”

“I’ve been trying to speak to you for over a week now, I already thought I was going insane because nothing ever happened!”

Loki had no idea how to respond to that. Not in a hundred years would he have believed Thor wanted to talk to him again after the things he had said and now he heard his voice as crystal clear as if he were right beside him.

“Loki, are you still there?” Thor asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

“Yes, I… I’m here,” Loki gulped and tried to keep his focus. “I’m still here.”

“I think I found her...”

“Your sister?” Loki was surprised once more. “Are you sure? Is she alive?”

“If it’s her then yes, she’s alive, but…” the huntsman’s voice trailed off, as if he had lost his train of thoughts, and Loki knew that something wasn’t right.

“What is it? What’s wrong with her?” Loki asked.

“I think she doesn’t remember me anymore.”

Loki only replied with a quiet ‘Hm.’ and began to think. From what he had seen in Thor’s memories his sister couldn’t be more than four, maybe five years old now. If she didn’t remember him it wouldn’t necessarily have to be because of a curse or spell, as he knew the other suspected.

“I know what you are going to say, but listen to me,” Thor interrupted Loki’s thoughts and the witch turned his attention back to him. “It’s only been a year and a half, she has to remember my face at least. I barely changed, not like her.”

“How did she change?” Loki was curious now. This didn’t make much sense yet, but it sounded off for some reason.

“I don’t know,” Thor sighed and the distress in his words was impossible to miss. “She has the same eyes and smile, but she looks like someone else.”

“Maybe it’s not her,” Loki assumed but Thor cut him off before he was able to say anything else.

“No, you don’t understand, she  _ is  _ my sister! Someone did this to her!”

“You have to calm down, Thor.” Loki tried to stay calm himself, but it was difficult when the huntsman was so upset. “Tell me how you can be so sure it’s her.”

“I can't explain how I know, I just do… she was born under a dying star, that’s what our mother called it,” Thor said and for a moment, Loki’s heart stopped beating and he nearly dropped the crystal in his hand. Without even realizing it, he spoke, making Thor fall silent and listen.

“She was born under a dying star and when you look into her eyes, it feels like looking into the universe itself. They are green, like emeralds, and when the sun reflects in them it looks as if they are sprinkled with pure gold. You know because you saw them and nothing in the world could ever make you forget those eyes…”

“Wait… how do you know that?” The confusion raised Thor’s voice, so much that he almost yelled at him. “Loki? Loki?”

But Loki couldn’t hear him anymore. He had traveled back in time, hundreds of years when this forest had been nothing but a dream of the future, when flowers bloomed and sparrows sung and everything had been nothing but peace and happiness. And those words, those haunting and dooming words, were spoken to him again, in a different language, by a different person, and the memory was so strong it made Loki’s heart ache.

He knew what Thor’s sister was and suddenly it all made sense to him. Why her family had been murdered so brutally, why her brother had lost his memory and she had been stolen away from him. It was all so clear now that he couldn’t believe he didn’t make the connection sooner.

Thor’s little sister was a witch too.


	4. Chapter 4

The minutes that passed were the longest in Loki’s life. He still couldn’t believe what he had just heard, but he pulled himself back into the moment and reality, away from memories that should long be forgotten and buried under a mountain of pain. He shook his head violently, finally realizing Thor called for him in sheer panic now, and managed to open his mouth.

“Thor, stop…” It felt stupid to say, but thankfully the huntsman listened and obeyed.

“Loki, what happened? Are you alright? How do you know these things about my sister?”

“I know more than you can imagine and you have to leave,  _ now _ .”

“ _ What _ ?”

“I know you are still close to her, but you  _ have  _ to leave. This is bigger than you realize and if you stay close to her, if anyone sees you talking to her, you will never forgive yourself.”

“Loki, tell me what is going on here.” Thor still sounded confused, but now there was hurt in his voice too and Loki hated himself for creating it.

“Your sister is in the hands of someone very powerful and you cannot free her on your own. I beg you, even if it sounds insane, you have to believe me! Leave this place, leave this town and then come and speak to me again. I will hear you, I promise. But whatever you do, stay away from her. You cannot fathom the damage that would occur otherwise.”

After a long moment of silence, Loki heard a weak sigh.

“I believe you,” Thor said and a stone dropped from Loki’s chest. “I will leave, it won’t take long. The town is small and I just arrived today.”

“I will be here, waiting for you to call out for me. Just say my name. And Thor?”

“Yes?”

“I believe you that it’s your sister. And I will help you to get her back, I promise.”

“Thank you, really. I will call for you soon.”

Loki nodded and opened his eyes, breaking the connection and dropping his hand to his lap.

Thor had no idea yet, but this changed everything. Loki knew he had no time left if he wanted to keep his promise. This little girl was in great danger, whether she knew it or not. And maybe the world was too, as much as he despised the thought.

Loki stormed outside his hut, looking around the place he had spent most of his life in carefully. He didn’t know if it would make any difference, but he wanted to try at least. He kneeled down inside the circle of stones, spreading his arms wide and turning his head skyward. Once they had listened to him when he had asked for their power to save Thor, maybe they would listen a second time.

“Spirits of dawn, twilight and night! I come to you and beg for your guidance, for one of your children is in danger and I cannot help her without you! Please, wise spirits, hear my plea that I bring to you in modesty and with the purest intentions.”

Wind began to pick up and Loki smiled weakly. They were listening to him!

“I offered you my life once, to save someone in need. I offer it to you again tonight, under this full moon, if you lend me your strength and power to help this young child of yours escape a gruesome fate. I ask for nothing in return, but I need you to guide and strengthen me, for I am not strong enough myself in these difficult times.”

The wind became stronger and Loki closed his eyes, listening. There was something else, something like a whisper he could make out weakly in the distance. It came closer after a few moments, until the sound surrounded him fully. The feeling was similar to standing inside a hurricane - complete peace at the center and all around him a whirlwind of sheer force and power. When it began entering his body, Loki felt overwhelmed by the intensity, crawling through his limbs and veins and even through his blood itself. It was everywhere, completely taking over him.

When the storm had finally calmed again and the wind began to fade, Loki opened his eyes slowly. He wondered if the spirits had decided his life was enough, or if his promise to save Thor’s sister made them follow his wish. Whatever it was, Loki felt the power in him and it gave him a shimmer of hope that this would succeed.

“I thank you, oh wise spirits, and I will do all that is in my might to bring your lost child back to you. Whoever is responsible for this shall be reminded that there are powers beyond their imagination and that they will not tolerate such betrayal and treason.”

“Loki…” a quiet and soft voice whispered suddenly, making the witch’s chest tighten again. He looked up and saw the faint memory of a woman in front of him. She was no more than a shadow of his past, but seeing the beauty and kindness on her face came so unexpected and sudden that he reached out with a hand. He would not be able to touch her, he knew that, but the rational part of his mind was shut off.

“Mother?” he whispered, tears filling his eyes.

“Find her, Loki,” the ghost of his mother whispered in the same eerie and hauntingly beautiful voice as before, a smile playing on her lips. “Bring her home so she can be safe again. She is as lost as you once were, don’t let this be her life…”

“I won’t, mother...” Loki cried, tears rolling down his cheeks. “I will bring her home and protect her, I promise!”

“My kind and wonderful boy,” his mother’s ghost said and suddenly knelt down, her transparent and somehow cold hands laying on his face without any pressure. It was just as one would imagine a ghostly touch felt, but for Loki it was different. He felt no fear or horror when he looked into this face, all he felt was love. “There is so much you have been through, so much you never deserved and you are still so strong.”

“I’m sorry, mother…” he whispered heartbroken and crying. “I couldn’t save you, I’m so sorry for all of this. I never wanted this to happen...”

“Don’t be sad, Loki,” his mother smiled, ghostly lips brushing over his forehead like a breeze. “I loved you every moment you were a part of my life, you have nothing to apologize for.”

Loki was unable to speak, her words hurting too much to allow him any more than a shattered look in his eyes. He wanted to believe her so badly, but he knew the truth. He remembered everything, just like Thor had, and the memory was painful to the very core of his existence.

“You are so strong, Loki,” his mother smiled, slowly floating backwards. Loki reached out with a hand again, but his fingers simply brushed through her silhouette without being able to hold her back. “Together you can save her and bring her home. Listen to your heart and you will know what to do. And whatever happens, remember you are my son and I love you with all my heart. Believe in yourself, believe in your powers and you will find your way...”

Loki wanted to say something, but before he could open his mouth his mother’s ghost became even more transparent and disappeared before his eyes. He stared into the darkness for a minute or two, the heaviness of his heart still holding him in place. Then, without a warning, it was gone. Loki lowered his head and smiled the saddest smile of his life.

“I won’t disappoint you mother, I promise…”

After thanking the spirits for granting them their powers and a vision of his long lost mother, Loki left the circle and began his preparations. Thor would try to contact him again soon and he feared they had very little time, maybe even less than he had previously assumed. He was sure a fight was inevitable, even if he had no idea who he was going to face or how strong they would turn out to be. If they had the chance to just pick the girl and run, Loki would not hesitate to take it, but he didn’t believe it would be this easy.

Thor’s voice rang in his ears suddenly when Loki had just finished collecting his last ingredients and he was more relieved than he had expected.

“Thor, are you safe?” Loki asked immediately, holding the crystal.

“For now, I think.” The huntsman sounded wary, as if his escape hadn’t gone the way he wanted it. “I saw a man with her before I left, it might be the one who holds her.”

“Most likely,” Loki nodded and shouldered the bag he had just closed. He grabbed a small sack from the table in front of him, holding it with his free hand. “I need your help now, Thor, are you sure you are safe where you are?”

“Yes, yes! I checked twice, no one followed me and this place is empty. What do you need?

“I will use a spell that will teleport me close to you, but it's complicated,” Loki explained and began filling the sack with various herbs and powders. “It’s not very precise since you are far away, so I need you to be in an open space, otherwise I might appear inside of something solid and I would rather not have that happen.”

“Are you trying to make a joke? What is even happening here?” Thor asked and despite his chuckle, Loki stayed dead serious.

“Not on this matter, I’m afraid. Magic is no joke to me. I have no time to explain now, but trust me, you cannot handle this alone, I’m your only hope. So, please, be so kind and go outside so I won’t end up as a permanent part of your surroundings.”

Loki poured the last ingredient into the sack and stepped out of his hut. He hoped the spell would not cut him in half or send him straight into the nearest tree, but with this new amount of magic floating through his veins he was optimistic. They would save Thor’s sister, they just had to.

Thor needed a few minutes before he spoke again. This time he sounded slightly out of breath.

“Loki? I’m on a field now! There is nothing but crops and paths, will this be safe?”

“As safe as I could ask for in such a short time,” Loki said and braced himself. 

He let go of the crystal and carefully poured the ingredients in the sack around himself, forming a circle. Then, he pulled a long crow feather out of his pocket and brought it to his lips. He took the sharp end of the feather, pressing it against his thumb to draw a single drop of blood. This, he smeared over the feather and closed his eyes. “I am a child of the night and with my guardian shadow, I shall find my way under the moon. Bring me to my destination safely, let me travel the distance I have to go on your wings and with your protection.”

A moment after his voice faded, Loki began feeling light and easy. He had done this spell several times in the past, so he knew what to expect when he was suddenly pulled out of his spot and hit the hard ground harsh and brutally only a second later. It was still not a comfortable way of traveling, but it was fast at least. He had no time to get on his feet before he was grabbed by two hands who did the work for him. For a second he was confused and searched for the one they belonged to, his eyes widening when they fell on Thor’s face.

“You did it!” Thor said in disbelief, more to himself than to Loki. “You really did it!”

“Of course I did,” Loki smiled and now, finally, managed to make out Thor’s face. He could barely recognize the man that had come to him all those months ago anymore, but it was undeniably Thor. This goofy smile just had to be unique to him. “Now, where is your safe place? I think we have to talk.”


	5. Chapter 5

Thor showed Loki the place he had been hiding in before, an abandoned farm house a few minutes away across the field. It was almost swallowed by trees and wheat and the roof was half destroyed, but Thor assured him that it was safe and Loki had no choice but to believe his words. The living room looked like Thor had stayed here for longer than a few hours already, which was slightly reassuring. Candles burned in several places, keeping the darkness at bay. It was nice, in a way. Almost cozy.

“Alright, you told me you would talk, now talk,” Thor said, without dancing around the matter, and Loki couldn’t hide a smile. “What’s wrong with my sister? What do you know that I don’t?”

Loki dropped his bag to the floor and sat down with his legs crossed, patting on the spot in front of him so Thor would follow his example. After he did, Loki pulled something out from his bag and handed it to him. He kept his hand on it, however, preventing Thor from looking, who instead turned his attention back to the other.

“She’s not your real sister, right?” Loki asked and watched as Thor’s eyes widened slightly.

“How do you know?”

“Look at me, Thor. Really look at me, up close.”

Thor was still confused, but did as Loki asked him to. When his face was only inches apart from his face, Loki raised a hand behind Thor’s head and illuminated the room with a light almost as bright as the sun itself.

“Now, tell me what you see,” he said and looked deep into Thor’s eyes.

The realization came slow to the huntsman, but when it did, Loki found it a fascinating thing to witness. Thor had seen his eyes before, but not in the sunlight. Only there, or in the light similar to it that Loki was creating at the moment, the truth could be seen.

“Your eyes… you have the same eyes…” Thor said in a quiet, almost awestruck whisper, and Loki nodded slowly.

“That’s why I told you to leave,” Loki said and nodded knowingly. “Your sister… she’s like me. She’s a witch. And whoever took her knows that and they are powerful enough to keep her under their control. Do you understand me?”

“I don’t think I understand anything anymore,” Thor sighed and his shoulders dropped. He suddenly looked utterly lost and hopeless and Loki felt his insides twist. He gently laid a hand on Thor’s cheek, turning the huntsman’s gaze back to his own eyes.

“We will save her, I promise,” he said. “I will tell you everything I know and I will help you. Look at me and believe me, please. Can you do that?”

“I’ll try.”

Loki knew that the news he had just delivered were harsh and painful, so he pulled the huntsman into a tight and warm hug after turning off the light in his hand. For five long minutes they simply sat there, without a word, without any tears or cries; just holding each other quietly and allowing everything to sink in.

“She is still your sister, Thor,” Loki said eventually, causing the other to pull away from him. “Nothing will change that, nothing ever could, don’t even think it will.”

“You said she is like you…” Thor said quietly, his eyes dropping to the item Loki had put onto his lap earlier. It was a book. “But she was always a normal child, how can she be a witch?”

“I can only tell you what I know,” Loki began while Thor opened the book he had given him. He put a finger on the first page, stopping him. “Witch is only what humans call our kind, because they don’t understand. We are Children of the Night, not witches.”

“What is the difference?” Thor asked, curiosity creeping into his voice. Loki tapped on the page of the book. It was a drawing of a forest, simple but effective. Two shadows stood between the trees, one very small and one very big.

“Before humans came, we were already here. We come from the night, always alone, always as infants and always in the cold. Your sister… your mother found her in a forest, didn’t she? During a full moon night when snow covered the ground and only the stars witnessed it.”

“Yes…” Thor whispered amazed. “She heard a cry in the night and walked out into the storm. When she returned she held a baby in her arms, small and as beautiful as the stars in the sky. We named her…”

“Hel,” Loki said and Thor nodded. He smiled and looked up. He had seen the name in Thor's memories before, only now making the connection.

“Mother was very fond of mythology, that’s why she named me after the Norse god of thunder. And Hel… she said that she found her covered and concealed with snow, but she did not shake or freeze. She just cried until she picked her up, then she was quiet.”

“The name fits her,” Loki smiled too now and brushed his finger’s over Thor’s. “My mother named me just like yours named you. Maybe this is something we all have in common, I don’t know.”

“Have you never met someone else like you?”

“No, never…” Loki quickly said and looked away. “My mother found me like yours found Hel: alone in a cold winter night, deep in a forest. She took me in and taught me the things I know now. She had met others like me before, but she said I would be safer if I stayed with her, away from them.”

“Why?” Thor asked confused. “Did you never try to find them?”

“I promised her I wouldn’t,” Loki sighed. He looked back at Thor for a moment before turning the book to a different page and pointing at it. This time, the image showed a group of bodies laying on the ground, some of them missing body parts, some heads, some nothing more than dark spots which Thor assumed to represent blood. “There is a reason we come alone and she told me it’s because if we come too close together we will ultimately destroy each other.”

“So, if you and Hel…” Thor didn’t finish his sentence, but the words still hung in the air.

“No, not two,” Loki quickly said and shook his head. “She said when we gather things start to go wrong. She saw it with her own eyes and barely made it out alive. When she found me, she decided that she would raise me alone, far away from others like me, so this would never happen again.”

“What you’re saying sounds like a fairytale somehow…” Thor mumbled quietly. “Made up stories parents tell their children to teach them morals and lessons.”

“I wish it were just that, trust me,” Loki sighed and turned the pages of the book again, this time almost to the very end of it. “This is my mother and what happened to her was anything but a fairytale.”

Thor looked down at the book and froze. On the withered paper was the picture of a woman burning in front of a cheering crowd and even though it was only in black and white, Loki knew that Thor saw the same thing he had seen with his own eyes. His skin crawled when his mind went back in time once more.

“They burned her as a witch after she had spent half her life helping them. She was considered a sage, a wise woman people came to when they were sick and needed help. She never turned anyone away and never asked for payment. No matter who came to her, she welcomed them with open arms and did all she could to help them. And one day…” Loki fell silent and Thor looked back up at him.

“What happened?” he asked carefully, waiting for Loki to continue.

“It was an accident, I didn’t mean to hurt the little girl, but when it happened I couldn’t stop it anymore...” Loki didn’t look at Thor, unable to see his eyes while revealing the darkest part of himself. It hurt just to think about it and saying it out loud made everything ten times worse. “My mother always told me to conceal my anger, to not let it control me, but that day I forgot myself. Eliza, the girl I played with near our house, had one of her tantrums and no matter what I did, I couldn't calm her down. She was very sick, mother said that she couldn’t control her emotions and sometimes they broke out, so I was always nice and friendly to her, but that day it was worse than normally and she started hitting me.”

The memory had Loki trembling and when Thor laid a hand on his shoulder he simply covered it with his own, without looking at him.

“I tried to talk to her, to be nice and calm her down somehow, but she just kept going… I remember calling for my mother because I knew she was stronger than me and could help her, but before she came out of the house Eliza started hitting my face and I couldn’t fight her off. I really tried to not get angry, but I couldn’t…”

“Loki, it’s not your fault that you got angry, really…” Thor said quietly, but Loki shook his head.

“No, it  _ was  _ my fault. I  _ knew  _ it was dangerous, I  _ knew  _ that I could hurt her if I got angry… and it still happened… she kept hitting me harder and harder and I remember tasting blood and then… I simply lost it. It’s a shady memory and keeps hiding behind a thick fog I can’t see through, but I know that I pushed her, hard. Any other child would have just pushed her over without anything else, but not me...”

Thor didn’t say anything while Loki tried to find words and he was glad about that. He knew this was something he would only be able to get out once and now seemed to be the time for it.

“She flew, literally flew through the air and hit the big tree we used to climb in the summer with her back. I heard the sound of her spine breaking and just screamed. I screamed so loud my mother came running from the house, but it was too late, I knew it. She picked Eliza up and tried to wake her, but her head just rolled to the side and her dead eyes looked at me… judging me… I will never forget this moment.” Loki grabbed Thor’s hand tighter, now finally turning towards him. “I dreamed of it ever since and I always heard her tiny voice asking me one thing, only this, every time: ‘Why did you hurt me? I thought we were friends?’”

“Loki, it’s all good...” Thor pulled him closer, now offering Loki the comforting hug he had received earlier and for the first time in his life, Loki let go. When the first tears fell and the sobs shook Loki’s body, Thor held him tight against his chest and ran a hand down his spine, mumbling words Loki couldn’t hear. His voice was soothing though and eventually, after several minutes, it helped him to calm down enough to speak again.

“I didn’t mean to hurt her, I never wanted to hurt anyone…” Loki mumbled, not leaving Thor’s strong, comforting embrace. He just leaned against him without moving. “The whole town came running because I screamed so loud and when they saw my mother holding Eliza’s dead body the accusations began. They blamed her for killing her, then for making her sick in the first place. One woman even accused her of being a witch and using dark magic on Eliza. I remember being so angry at her because this same woman owed her  _ life  _ to my mother! She almost died during childbirth two years earlier and my mother saved her, but that didn’t seem to matter anymore. All the good she had done, all the people she had saved, everything was forgotten...”

“Is this why you hate us so much?” Thor asked and Loki nodded, without looking up. “Us humans?”

“They were so evil, so abysmally evil!” Loki growled with all the disgust in him and Thor brushed a hand through his hair gently. “They burned her as a witch and made me watch as I cried and screamed and begged for them to stop. I thought it would never end, it felt like hours, and I can still smell her burning flesh when I think of it... and all this time my mother just looked at me, without any anger or hate and that hurt the most. She didn’t blame me, she wasn’t angry with me. She was just... sad…”

“What happened then?” Thor asked carefully and Loki finally pushed himself back up.

“They banished me from the village. No one knew the truth about what happened and they had no place for the son of a witch in their life.”

“I’m so sorry, Loki... “ Thor shook his head and looked back down at the picture in the book. “You were just a child and you didn’t want this to happen… I can’t blame you for hating humans so much, after all they did to you…”

“It wasn’t all they did to me,” Loki said and his eyes darkened with anger again. “I was alone and scared, with no place to go, and they treated me like a rabid dog that tried to bite them. I tried to go back to the village a few times, find someone who would help me, who wouldn’t throw me out again, but they all did… every single one of them. The last time they chased me down the streets with torches and forks, calling me monster and demon and abomination and promising to skin me alive if they caught me. That’s when I decided to turn away from their kind for the rest of my life.”


	6. Chapter 6

After Loki’s confession the two were silent for a long time. He felt numb and angry with himself, but he knew that it was right to tell Thor about these things. He had to know in order to protect his sister from experiencing something similar. At one point Thor laid a hand on Loki’s neck and the gentle way his fingers pressed against his skin made it easier to calm down. Despite all that happened, Loki understood now that Thor was different from those villagers in his childhood. He was human, yes, but unlike them he was not part of a selfish and aggressive brute.

“You are very impressive, Loki,” Thor said eventually, surprising the witch with his words.

“What do you mean?” he asked, looking over his shoulder.

“All you’ve been through, I don’t know anyone who would be able to survive your past without breaking.” Thor sounded sincere and Loki’s confusion was replaced with a hint of pink on his pale cheeks. “When I came to you I was scared almost as much as the villagers sending me to you. I expected someone cruel and ugly, a monster that would enjoy taking my life just because I had been naive enough to come to them.”

“And I wasn’t that?” Loki asked, raising a brow. Before answering, Thor let out a crystal clear laugh that showed no hint of sarcasm or mockery.

“You were everything I did  _ not  _ expect, trust me,” he smiled, brushing his fingers over Loki’s neck. “I was intimidated by your presence and by how strong you were, but I was stunned just the same.”

Loki cracked a weak smile and his gaze softened a little at those flattering words.

“You  _ were  _ naive, a complete fool if I ever saw one. I could have taken your life as easy as that of a fly,” he said in a soft tone of voice. “But you were different from them and now I know why. You were searching for your sister without even knowing she existed, didn’t you? You just knew you had to find her. I thought it was weakness I sensed when I saw you the first time, but after you were gone I realized it wasn’t. I simply didn’t understand because you were so full of something I didn’t feel in such a long time that I forgot about it.”

“And what was I full of?”

“Love,” Loki said warmly. “What I thought of as weakness was but the simplest and yet the most complicated feeling imaginable and I have never felt something this strong before. You really love your sister, am I right?”

“More than you know,” Thor sighed with a heavy voice. “She was my world from the moment my mother brought her home and when she was gone I felt empty, even when I couldn’t remember she even existed.”

Loki nodded with a smile. He knew what Thor meant, now he did.

“Whatever happened to her, we will free her from it. Together,” Loki promised and laid his own hand on Thor’s neck the way he did. “She needs you, Thor, even if she doesn’t know right now. Mother said she is lost and I believe her. But we will find her and bring her home.”

“Your mother?” Thor asked and earned a smile in return.

“I saw her tonight,” Loki admitted quietly. “I asked the spirits for guidance and strength because I knew I wasn’t strong enough to help you on my own and when they answered she appeared.”

“It must have felt nice to see her again, after all this time...” Thor smiled.

“Nice and bittersweet,” Loki smirked. “But she helped me understand. She said Hel was lost like I had been and that I need to bring her home so she can be safe. And I  _ want _ to bring her home. I know how much you love her and I cannot stand the thought that she might have to go through the same life I faced, even if I don’t know her.”

“I’m very glad that you are here, I mean it. I don’t believe I could do this all by myself, no matter how much I want to.”

“This is bigger than you,” Loki said and shook his head. “You are strong and determined, but you stand no chance against magic this powerful. I have been given the blessing of the night for the purpose of helping you and I will do whatever I have to in order to bring your sister back to you.”

“I don’t know how I will ever be able to thank you for this, Loki…”

“You can thank me by promising me something.”

“Anything, just say it.”

Loki’s eyes became stern and the previously soft and gentle expression on his face hardened.

“I know as little about what lies ahead of us as you do, but when I tell you to run, promise me to listen. You will want to fight and help me, but you must not. I’ve been here for a long time, I know that one day it will end and I am ready for it. If this is how, I will accept it. But I don’t want you to endanger your life just to save mine. Please, you  _ have  _ to promise me to run when I tell you to.”

“Loki, I can’t…”

“You  _ must _ !” Loki’s voice was shaking with determination now and his eyes pierced through Thor’s. “You have to live and bring your sister home, I beg you. She needs you to understand and grow. Don’t let her go through the nightmare so many of us have experienced.”

“Is this why you told me about your past?” Thor asked slowly, finally seeing the bigger picture. “So I can tell her when things go wrong?”

“She needs to know, no matter how,” Loki smiled sadly and gripped Thor’s neck tight. “Promise me you will do as I say and protect her with your life, Thor.”

“I wish you wouldn’t ask this of me,” Thor sighed, but eventually nodded anyway. “I promise to do what you say, but I beg it won’t come to this.”

“So do I, but we have to think of all possible outcomes. If I cannot protect you and Hel, if I’m sure my life will end, I will use whatever power I have left to cast a spell on you to protect you two. I know you want to protest, but if I die, I want to be sure you are safe.”

Thor pulled his hand back and nodded. When Loki moved his own hand he brushed his fingers through Thor’s hair slowly, smiling affectionately. He was filled with so much warmth right now that it was almost scary, but when he looked at the human in front of him it was a comfortable feeling instead of a terrifying one.

“You make me wish I would not be what I am, Thor. So much time wasted, hundreds of years filled with anger and hate and lacking the one thing that makes life worth living… I’m glad you showed me what I’ve been missing, even if it won’t last long. Thank you for showing me there is something else out there...”

Thor didn’t say anything in return, but he leaned forward and kissed Loki long and deep. It felt even more intense than the first times they did it and Loki wanted to cry at just how everything in him screamed in need of more. Still, he pressed his eyes shut as tight as possible and gently pushed Thor back, breaking their kiss and his heart just the same.

“Please listen to your own advice and run when you are in danger, Loki,” Thor muttered, sadness filling his eyes. “I will do what you ask me to because I promised, but I will never forgive myself if it means leaving you to die.”

“But, your sister…”

“She needs me, you’re right,” Thor nodded patiently. “I love her with all my heart, that will never change, but I have similarly strong feelings for you, even if I cannot explain them.”

Loki swallowed and fought against the tears building up in his eyes. Why did Thor have to make this more difficult by saying such things? He didn’t want to lie, but he left him no choice.

“I cannot promise you to do that, I’m sorry,” Loki replied ashamed, looking down. “I asked for your life and bound you to me with it. And when I used my blood and offered my own life to save you, I turned this bond into a chain without realizing it. The reason you feel this way is because of this, not because you love me. It’s a spell, nothing more.”

“Maybe you created this bond and the chains, but you are wrong thinking my feelings come from a spell.” Thor put a hand on Loki’s chin, lifting it up again to look into his eyes. “When I saw you for the first time I was already yours and you were far from asking for my life at this point. This is something else, something I don’t wish to lose again. So, please, if you want me to keep my promise, I ask for the same in return.”

“I hate you for this, but fine. I promise.” Loki sighed in defeat. He didn't know why he gave in or why he made such an impossibly risky promise, but he did it anyway. They didn't even know who they were going to face or if they had a chance to get out of this alive, how much was a promise like this worth when things turned bad? Loki knew the answer, even if he didn't like it. This promise was one he would keep, no matter what would happen.


	7. Chapter 7

“I don't understand what you want me to do now.” Thor looked slightly lost, sitting in the middle of the magic circle Loki had drawn while the witch was mixing things together.

“We cannot just run in there, grab your sister and leave,” Loki said patiently and carried the small bowl in his hands over to Thor. “I need to make sure you are protected and we know what to do.”

“And this will help?” Thor asked and pointed at the bowl. Loki nodded, still stirring.

“For starters, yes,” he said. “But I need blood from you.”

“Blood, really? Why blood?”

“You see…” Loki smiled and shoved the bowl closer to Thor, before handing him a small knife from his pocket too. “Blood is very powerful and one of the strongest magic ingredients in this world. By giving your blood you can strengthen a spell exponentially.”

“Isn't it dangerous to use blood in spells?” Thor asked, eyeing the knife closely.

“It can be, that's why it is so rarely used amongst those studying magic. They are afraid because it can have unexpected consequences.”

“But you know what you're doing, right?”

Loki smiled and laid one of his hands on Thor's. At this, the huntsman looked up.

“I would never ask you to do this if I weren't sure it's safe,” he said reassuringly, squeezing his fingers slightly. “It's a protective spell, nothing more. I added a drop of my own blood already, by adding yours this will make sure that whatever magic I use in the future cannot hurt you.”

“That's very thoughtful of you,” Thor smiled back. He freed his hands, finally convinced, and poked one of his fingers until a drop of his blood fell into the bowl.

“Thank you,” Loki said and took the bowl back, swirling the contents for a moment before covering it with his hands. Thor watched him closely, fascinated when his hands began to glow slightly.

“May the power and magic in me bring no harm to you, whether it is summoned with good or bad intentions.” Loki's voice filled the air, luring Thor in like a melody from a siren. “Blood to blood, I seal this spell, so that you will be safe in the dark times that are about to come.”

The glow from Loki's hands vanished and he closed his eyes, sighing. He moved his lips without a sound, stirring the contents in the bowl once more before opening them again.

“Drink this and the spell will do it's work,” Loki said and handed Thor the bowl. The huntsman nodded and put it to his lips without complaining. As he drank the dark, bitter liquid, Loki's lips curled into an affectionate smile. “From now on I will not be able to cause you any harm with my powers, not even if I would use them against you with ill intent.”

“Would you?” Thor asked when he was finished and put the now empty bowl down.

“I am not known to be harmless, Thor,” Loki smirked. “But I do not wish to harm you, whether intentionally or not. It's a safety measure because I might be forced to do something dangerous and I want to be sure it won't backfire.”

“How dangerous?”

Loki sighed. It was a difficult thing to explain, mainly because he didn't quite understood how it worked himself. Still, he wanted to try at least.

“This world is filled with magic, Thor. Everywhere you go, in every living being, in the earth itself, even in the water and air there is powerful magic. It ties the essence of our existences together with invisible strings. There are ways to pull those strings, but the consequences are impossible to foresee.”

“I have a feeling those consequences are not harmless?”

“Far from that,” Loki shook his head. “Magic is chaotic. It has no rules, it simply exists. What I do, and what others who practice similar things do, is forcing our will into this chaos to tame and bend it. We can use the magic surrounding us, but there are ways that will unleash the true potential of it and when this is done, no one knows what might happen.”

“And you plan to do that…” Thor was worried. Loki smiled gently and shook his head.

“Not if I can prevent it,” he assured him. “But if I have to, if it's the only way to save us, then I will. When all is lost, the chaos is a witch’s last stand. But you will be protected now.”

“I hope you don't have to do this, I don't like the sound of it at all.”

“Neither do I, trust me. We need to do something else though, something regarding your sister,” Loki sighed. He didn't like doing these things, but they were necessary.

“What is it?” 

“You remember when we first met, when I brought back your memories?” Loki asked and Thor nodded silently. “I need to do it again, to see Hel. I will look through your memories to see if it can help us.”

“Didn't you see me after those bandits ambushed me?” Thor asked, surprising Loki with his idea. “Can't you do that with her too?”

“I could try,” Loki thought out loud. “I mean, when I watched you, I could share the vision with a crow, they are powerful creatures for witches. I'm not sure if there is one around this time though.”

“Doesn't it work with humans too?”

“Yes, but it's more difficult.” Loki sighed. Thor's idea itself wasn't bad, but he feared the only one around his sister might be her kidnapper and he would surely notice his presence. “Let me see her in your memory first, will you? Maybe it’s enough already.”

Thor nodded and watched how Loki took his hands and entwined their fingers.

“It won’t hurt, not like the last time. Just concentrate for me,” Loki asked and smiled. “Think back to the moment you saw her the first time, I will guide you from there.”

“I’ll try,” Thor mumbled and closed his eyes to concentrate. 

Loki looked at the huntsman for a moment, wondering why he suddenly felt as if Thor had stopped himself from saying something different. He quickly shook his head to get rid of this thought. No, now they had to find out more about his sister, whatever he was thinking was probably just imagination. He closed his eyes too and followed Thor into his memory.

For a moment everything was a chaotic mess. Loki squeezed Thor’s hands a bit tighter and mumbled. “Slow down, Thor. Don’t rush anything. Remember spotting her, everyone else doesn’t matter for now.”

After this, the images began to slow down and Loki was able to make out details. Thor was on a small marketplace with many people running around, hiding behind a corner to not be seen. And then, the memory focused on a small figure in the distance.

“That’s her!” Thor said and Loki nodded. He saw her too. A child, hidden under a black cloak that allowed no one to guess whether it was a boy or a girl. Thor sneaked closer to her and the image became clearer.

“How did you know it was her?” Loki asked curious. So far this could have been any child in the world.

“Wait, in a minute.”

They watched the child reach for an apple and put it in a basket and then she suddenly turned around, as if someone had called her. The hood of her cloak slid off her head and Loki didn’t have to ask why Thor knew anymore. He took control over the memory and stopped it.

“What did you do?” Thor asked and Loki laughed quietly.

“Nothing dangerous, don’t worry. This is her? Your sister?”

“Yes, but she doesn’t look like herself at all. Only her eyes…”

“She’s not human, I can tell you that much just from looking at her,” Loki said mysteriously and studied the small face. At first glance she looked like any other child, just very, very pretty. But something about her appearance just didn’t fit and it was more than just her extremely bright green eyes. “You say she looks different, I can tell you why. She’s under a spell. Someone very powerful is controlling her.”

“What do you mean with not human?” Thor wanted to know. “She looks human to me.”

“Yes, but look at her jaw, the way her chin curves, her cheekbones. You can’t tell because you never saw another child like her, but I did. Even the her hair is too black somehow. Whoever holds her hostage doesn’t want anyone to recognize her.”

“Her skin is a different color too…” Thor suddenly mumbled and Loki frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“It looks like yours now but… it wasn’t before. Mother said she must have come from a far away country because her skin color was different from anyone else’s. That’s why we stayed for ourselves, she didn’t want anyone to see her.”

“Was she afraid someone might hurt her?”

“I think so,” Thor sighed. “But I know it’s her. I just  _ know  _ it.”

Loki nodded. Yes, this was Thor’s sister, he was sure of that. But now they had to find a clue about the one who was behind this. Carefully, he let Thor’s memory continue.

The little girl slowly walked away from the merchant and towards a crowd of people near an alley. Thor followed her with his eyes, but she disappeared between too many legs to say who she was going to.

“The second memory, show it to me,” Loki said quickly. “With the man you mentioned.”

The images flickered and blurred again while Thor remembered and then it was there; sharp and crystal clear. Loki stopped the memory and gulped. Thor’s sister stood next to a very tall figure with a similar cloak than hers. The height difference was frightening, but what Loki focused on was the part of the man’s face that was visible. He had seen this man before, but he couldn’t remember where. It was a dangerous face, sharp, with piercing red eyes and Loki knew that, if this man would grin, he would see shark-like teeth in his mouth. He held out a hand for the little girl to take, a hand with long fingers and an eerie, gray-ish pale color that made Loki’s skin crawl.

“Loki? What’s wrong?” Thor asked, but Loki shook his head and pulled out from his memories. When he opened his eyes again, the huntsman was looking at him. “What did you see?”

“I don’t know,” Loki mumbled and shook his head. “I feel like I know this man, but I can’t remember why…”

“You look scared…”

“I know, because I am.” Loki swallowed. The creepy feeling this one look alone had given him scared him a lot, Thor was right. “We have to get your sister away from him, no matter how. Whoever he is, he’s very dangerous.”


	8. Chapter 8

They would go to town the following night to see if they could find Thor’s sister and her kidnapper. Thor asked why at night and Loki explained to him that his powers were stronger in the dark and it would be easier to hide in the shadows. If anything happened they could escape faster this way too and there were much less people around to see them. He didn’t want to take more risks than necessary, it was a dangerous mission without that already.

“What do we do until then?” Thor asked, slightly impatient. Loki knew he wanted to get his sister out of there as soon as possible, but rushing anything was the worst idea possible.

“We eat something, try to get some sleep and prepare for whatever we will be up against.”

“I don’t think I will be able to sleep, not when I know this man has my sister,” Thor sighed. He ran a hand through his hair and Loki hated how lost he looked in this moment. Carefully, Loki shoved himself closer and brushed his fingers over the huntsman’s neck before resting them there. At this, Thor looked up.

“It will be good, I promise,” Loki mumbled and gave him a weak smile. “I’m here, you don’t have to do this alone, you know that.”

Thor covered Loki’s hand with his own, returning the smile. “Thank you, for everything,” he said. “I know she’s not your sister and you don’t have to help me, but I’m very grateful that you do.”

“She’s not, but she’s yours,” Loki whispered and placed a tender kiss on Thor’s lips that surprised the huntsman. “I would never do this for anyone else but you.”

“I’m honored, Loki,” Thor muttered, now visibly confused. Something about the way Loki looked at him had changed, but he couldn’t exactly say what it was.

“Can I be honest with you?” Loki suddenly asked and Thor only managed to nod in response. He had no idea how he was supposed to speak when Loki looked at him like that. “I’m really scared of what might happen. This man… he makes my skin crawl in the worst ways…”

“I feel the same way,” Thor nodded. “Something about him is wrong.”

“Yes, very wrong… and very, very evil.” Loki turned his head and stared into the distance. “It’s like I almost know who he is and then it slips away from me again...”

“You are exhausted,” Thor said quietly and ran a hand through Loki’s long hair, turning the witch’s attention back at him. “You need to rest and eat, maybe tomorrow you will remember.”

“I hope so,” Loki sighed. Thor’s touch was actually soothing for him and somehow he suddenly wished he wouldn’t stop doing that. “I feel like it’s important that I remember…”

“Come, you go lay down for a while now and get some sleep,” Thor said sternly and pulled Loki to his feet. “I will find something we can eat and you rest. Tomorrow night we will see for ourselves who this man is.”

Loki nodded, but didn’t answer. Sleep sounded like a good idea now, even if he wasn’t sure if he would be able to close his eyes at all. When Thor guided him upstairs into a bedroom that was inviting enough to ease some of Loki’s worries, he was close to ask the huntsman to stay with him. In the end, though, he didn’t. He simply thanked Thor and walked over to the bed to lay down.

An hour later, Loki realized he wasn’t able to sleep. Even though it was still cold outside, the room around him felt like hellfire. He was sweating and throwing himself around on the bed enough to wake himself up again whenever he managed to drift away. Finally, frustrated and angry, Loki stripped out of his clothes and threw them into a corner. Like this, his body eventually managed to cool down enough so that he drifted into a weak slumber. It was better than nothing, even if it wasn’t providing him much rest.

_ Something wasn’t right, Loki could feel it. The tall, dark figure stood in front of him and he could barely keep his hands from shaking. There had never been anyone or anything that made him feel weak and powerless, but this man did it without even showing himself. Loki clutched his hands to fists and tried to focus his anger, but no matter how much power he summoned, the man didn’t even flinch. Then, the stranger grinned and Loki saw sharp teeth flashing through the shadow under his hood, finally giving him the ability to speak. _

_ “Who are you?” Loki couldn’t hide the fear in his voice, despite shouting. “What do you want from this little girl?” _

_ There was no answer, not one with words at least, but the man held out his hand and suddenly Loki felt like he was turning to ice. The air around him was sucked away and everything became so cold that his body began to tremble uncontrollably. Eventually, his knees gave in and he couldn’t hold himself up anymore. Gritting his teeth and desperately keeping his head up, Loki stared at the dark stranger in fear and disgust. _

_ “I will bring her home!” he shouted as loud as he could against the freezing winds stealing his words. _

_ “She already  _ is  _ home, little princess. You are too late...” _

_ The words lingered in the air; taunting and confusing, and Loki lost his fight against the cold. It felt as if his heart had stopped beating and he slipped away from consciousness into a darkness that seemed to never end. He was falling with no way to stop it. _

Still falling, Loki began to scream. There was no way to control it. He still screamed when the darkness suddenly disappeared and he was ripped out of his nightmare by two strong hands shaking him and a voice speaking to him that he couldn’t make out. After a moment of complete shock, realization finally hit him and the scream died in his throat. Loki frantically looked around, his eyes shifting so fast that his head began to hurt. Then there was the voice again and this time he could understand.

“Loki, it’s fine. Calm down. It was just a dream, you have to snap out of it.”

“A… a dream…?” Loki’s voice was hoarse from the scream and when he finally found Thor’s eyes he couldn’t do anything for a moment except staring into them in complete shock and disbelief.

“Only a dream, I promise,” Thor said again, his voice now more calming and soothing and somehow relieved. After a moment he pulled Loki into his arms. Only now did the witch realize he was completely naked, but there was no shame or awkwardness coming with this thought. He grabbed Thor’s arm with a shaking hand, holding onto him the best he could and buried his face against the other’s shoulder. “It’s all good now, it’s all good…”

“So… cold…” Loki stammered, still feeling as if had slept in the snow for a week. Thor against his icy skin felt like the sun itself, but he couldn’t let go of him, even if he feared he would melt or burn under his touch.

“I’m here now, don’t worry,” Thor murmured gently. He brushed through Loki’s hair one last time before fumbling on his cloak and suddenly draping it around Loki. It barely managed to ease the cold, but it felt soft and comfortable. “I will warm you again, just stay with me. Talk to me, tell me what happened…”

Loki pushed himself closer to Thor, ignoring that he was practically crawling onto his lap completely naked and trembling. He needed his warmth and his embrace, more than he had ever needed anything else before. It took him a long time before he finally managed to speak again.

“It felt so real… he… he was so strong… I had no chance…”

“You mean… this man we saw?”

Loki nodded and pressed his cheek against Thor’s chest, gripping his arm. “I demanded him to speak, asked what he wanted with Hel, but he wouldn’t answer… he just said…”

“What did he say?”

“He said…” Loki gulped and finally looked up into Thor’s eyes again. “He said: ‘She is already home, little princess. You are too late.’.”

Thor didn’t understand those words either, but Loki saw that he didn’t like them. There was more behind this than they knew and it felt like they were about to make a huge mistake by just going to confront this man and demanding Thor’s sister back.

“Why did he call you little princess?” Thos asked, but Loki shook his head.

“I don’t know, I am no princess… or a prince…” It made absolutely no sense. Loki had been a baby, found in the woods. His mother  _ told  _ him that. He knew she had not been his real mother of course, but he couldn’t be a prince.

“Maybe it was just a dream and nothing else?” Thor suggested, but again Loki shook his head.

“It was too intense for a dream,” he mumbled quietly, seeking the comfort and warmth of Thor’s embrace again. He felt weak doing it, but the need was too strong to resist. “It was a warning… and I don’t understand it…”

“You will with time,” Thor assured him and pressed his lips against Loki’s head gently. “We will figure out what this is about, I know it.”

They just sat there for a few moments, without saying anything. Loki begged that Thor was going to be right, but whenever he thought about the man in his dream he shuddered again and wanted to run far, far away. He couldn’t handle this feeling of helplessness and fear, this wasn’t how things were supposed to go, not at all! Suddenly, Loki wasn’t sure if he wanted to know who this man truly was anymore…

“He knows who I am, Thor…” Loki whispered with a trembling voice, clutching the huntsman’s shirt. “He knows and he knows I’m coming… I can feel it…”

“Loki, shhh…” Thor mumbled against his hair and brushed a hand through it again. “You can’t be sure of that, you know? Maybe your exhaustion is just playing a trick on you.”

“No,” Loki said and shook his head. “No, I know tricks, I am the  _ master  _ of tricks. He knows, he’s waiting… and I will run right into his trap.”

“If you want to stay behind, I can-”

“No!” Loki interrupted Thor almost immediately, his fear and anger turning his voice sharp. “I won’t run away! He will hurt your sister, one way or the other, I  _ know  _ that. Whatever he wants from her, he will get it with force, not with kindness, and I won’t let her suffer because I’m too scared to act!”

Thor only nodded, without answering. Loki had made a decision and Thor wasn’t going to even try and change his mind. In a way, the witch was glad about that, as much as he was about the fact that he was still holding him and apparently didn’t plan to stop anytime soon. 

“If you face him alone he will kill you without any remorse,” Loki said bitterly after a while, almost feeling the vile taste in his mouth. “I won’t let him hurt you, no way.”

“Loki…”

“He  _ wants  _ something, I can feel it. I don’t know why or how, but he wants something and it has nothing to do with you.”

“I won’t leave your side, Loki, no matter if this has anything to do with me or not,” Thor said almost stubbornly and pulled the other closer against his chest. “You are in this because I came to you and I will be damned if I let you go through it alone.”

“We come alone and we leave alone, that’s just how things are,” Loki whispered, without daring to look into Thor’s eyes. Feeling himself being so attached to someone else, human or not, was terrifying. But for some reason it wasn’t a completely bad thing with Thor, even if he couldn’t explain why. The thought about the huntsman refusing to leave his side was very comforting and Loki didn’t believe that Thor was lying just to make him feel better. Still, he never felt this way before in hundreds of years, he didn’t know how to cope with it.

“That doesn’t mean it always has to be this way,” Thor said calmly, his hand running through Loki’s hair stopping when it reached his neck. When he began to cradle his skin softly, Loki let out a quiet, almost inaudible sigh. He wanted nothing more than to not go alone, but admitting this even to himself was harder than he imagined.


	9. Chapter 9

After what felt like hours that he laid in Thor’s arms, all comfortable and content and with his mind as light as a feather, Loki suddenly ripped his eyes open and tensed up. For a moment he didn’t realize that he had fallen asleep again and wondered where he was, but when it dawned on him he felt a strange calm creep in. Carefully, he pushed himself up on his hands, realizing only now that they had been laying on the bed and that Thor, too, was asleep.

For a long moment, Loki wasn’t able to move or take his eyes off the huntsman. He was towering half above him, one hand on the left and one on the right side of Thor’s hips, and just looked at him as if it was the first time he saw him. In a way, this thought wasn’t completely wrong though. Loki asked himself if Thor had always looked like this or if his mind was playing tricks on him now, because he couldn’t remember him being this handsome and attractive before. Not that he hadn’t been, but now it was more obvious somehow…

“If only we had met in a different way,” Loki sighed sadly. When he looked at Thor like this he wished that he could change the way things were. It was a strange realization, one that made him question his own choices and morals in all their shapes. But, if he could trade a century long life of isolation and solitude against just half of a human lifespan that he could spent with this man, he would do it without batting an eye. For the first time, Loki believed that there could have been a way for him to find true happiness if things were different.

“Maybe in another life we can be something else, something more,” Loki whispered and leaned down carefully. He pressed a kiss on Thor’s lips, so tender and shy that he could feel his cheeks heat up at the slight touch. He closed his eyes, trying to savour everything about the way this moment felt. After a few seconds, when he was about to pull back, he felt Thor’s arms wrapping around his waist and was suddenly unable to move. Loki ripped his eyes open at the surprising change of events, but when he met Thor’s gentle blue ones his thoughts about retreating vanished into thin air and he sunk back against him, allowing the huntsman to do as he pleased.

When Thor began kissing him back, deeper and more demanding even, Loki felt his thoughts drift away from him. Absentmindedly, he ran a hand through Thor’s hair and buried it deep at his neck. They had kissed before, but something about this time was much more overwhelming and alluring; it made his insides sting and heat up. Maybe it was because he was scared, maybe because he was lonely or naked or all of this; it didn’t matter. Loki completely drowned in Thor’s kiss and he didn’t want to feel anything else anymore.

They stayed for over five minutes like this and Loki already thought he had died and was experiencing heaven, especially when Thor’s hands began running along his spine and sent deliciously sweet waves of bliss through his body. So, when Thor’s lips suddenly pulled back from his own, Loki opened his eyes in complete confusion, not understanding what was happening. There was no complaining or even a thought in the same direction, just the absolutely confused look in his eyes and the loss he felt deep inside his chest.

Thor didn’t speak for a moment, but Loki noticed that his hands had not stopped caressing his back and he enjoyed the feeling of the huntsman’s warm fingers brushing over his skin. Loki couldn’t stop himself from tilting his head and closing his eyes, just so he could focus on this feeling better. He feared Thor’s next words, he truly feared them, but his touch was everything for him and he didn't want him to stop.

“I don’t want to wait for another life,” Thor murmured after a long time of silence, surprising Loki completely. “I want you now, Loki, not in a life where I can’t remember you…”

“Thor…” Loki whispered, his words getting cut off by another passionate kiss. His eyes rolled back and he held onto the huntsman desperately while trying to keep his trail of thoughts. He lost it completely within a matter of seconds.

“Tell me you don’t want me and I will stop,” Thor groaned and kissed Loki again, but this time on his cheek. A series of small kisses followed until he reached his neck, biting teasingly into the soft skin and having Loki gasp at the pleasurable sensation. “Should I stop?”

“No…” Loki whispered weakly, unable to deny his wishes any longer. “No, please don’t stop…”

He really wanted Thor to continue, even if it was probably the most inappropriate moment for something like this. Never before had he let anyone as close as him now and never before had he craved anyone to do this more. Thor had turned all of his emotions upside down and now he was a storm of desire and need, longing to be touched and kissed in ways that had seemed completely impossible just months ago.

“You have bewitched me, you wicked, beautiful siren,” Thor whispered against Loki’s neck and Loki swore for a moment he saw stars at the way his body reacted to it. He grabbed Thor’s hair tighter and groaned, unable to stop his hips from bucking up and shoving a knee between the huntsman’s legs.

“Look at you, gorgeously wriggling beneath me like the most alluring sin coming to life.” Thor’s words ghosted over Loki’s skin, making him tremble with need. “A million lives could not make me want you any more.”

Loki bit his lip, preventing himself from crying out something he would regret immediately. Yes, he wanted Thor just as much, whether it was right or not. He wanted to feel loved, at least for one single time; loved and adored and held like he was the most valuable and precious thing in the entire world for someone. But saying this, right now, was the worst he could do and he knew it. So, instead Loki stopped his emotional turmoil with a painful bite and dove into the darker, more filthy parts of his heart.

“Take me then,” Loki whispered, fingers trailing over Thor’s neck and chin and his eyes turning dark like a forest at night with desire. “Please, take me and make me forget everything just for this one day...”

What followed was more than Loki had ever imagined. Thor’s hands on him felt like a blessing and he arched his body against every touch, craving for more. There was no way to keep any form of control over his emotions or body when his hands wandered down Thor’s chest, trailing over the strong muscles. Loki closed his eyes and simply gave into the desire overwhelming him in waves and carrying his thoughts away on silver wings of bliss. A thousand words ran through the witch’s mind and none of them seemed enough to describe this.

Thor was gentle, tending to every single one of Loki’s reactions immediately and with all his care. Every touch felt like fire and water, like a storm and a breeze just the same. Loki couldn’t keep his eyes open whenever Thor’s lips sealed his, the sheer warmth and sweetness filling his mouth too much to think about anything else. All of those feelings were so new and intense that he simply stopped thinking altogether and allowed them to consume him. He pulled the huntsman close to himself, not wanting to lose the sensation his body created against his own. Everything, he wanted everything and more.

The only moment Loki felt the slightest concern was when Thor finally gave into his silent begging and prepared himself, but even that was washed away the moment he felt the other’s fingers gently and carefully pushing him open. It was such a delicious and arousing experience that all he could do was throw his head back and moan in delight.

Like a fever Thor came over him and Loki ravished every second of it - from the almost cautious way the huntsman finally entered him, over the teasing rocking that had him whimpering into the sheets, to the delicious thrusts that became harder and went deeper every time. Loki was hopelessly lost. It felt so perfect, so incredibly sensual and hot, nothing else but this moment existed anymore.

Loki was a moaning and whimpering mess, completely forgetting the world, and he loved it. Every time Thor pushed into him he cried out from pleasure, every time Thor groaned against the crook of his neck he sent a hot shiver of arousal down his spine. Loki wrapped his arms around the other to keep him close, to devour the heat making his skin burn. Thor willingly obliged, holding Loki against him just the same with one arm, and sped up his thrusts. Their new angle allowed him to push even deeper and when he hit Loki’s most sensitive spots, the sounds coming from the witch were completely lustful and obscene.

“God, please…” Loki cried after a few essentially hard thrusts, his nails digging into Thor’s shoulders. Everything was just colors and pleasure at this point and there was nothing else occupying Loki’s mind. “Make it hurt, please… I want to feel you… all of you…”

Thor let out a low growl and Loki felt his cock twitch inside him eagerly. Then, without a word, he grabbed Loki’s hips and threw himself onto his back, pulling the witch with him. Thor still held him tight when Loki slid down his cock and the moan escaping his lips was out of this world. Thor wasted no time, doing exactly what Loki had asked of him and began thrusting his hips up. This time, Loki’s cry of pleasure was mixed with pain and his cock began throbbing with precum.

All Loki could do at this new and absolutely intense experience of riding Thor was to let it out, scratching the huntsman's sweat covered and firm chest with his nails and allow it to happen. It hurt, it hurt a lot, but it was such an addicting and arousing pain that it made him feel utterly alive. Loki didn’t last long with Thor pounding him so mercilessly and hard. 

When he came he did so with a trembling voice, crying out Thor’s name and spilling all over the huntsman’s chest and stomach. He would have fallen over if Thor hadn’t kept a grip on his hips, so only his head rolled back as the thrusts continued to push every last bit out of him. He barely felt the heat filling him up or how Thor’s movements became frantic. Only when Thor loosened the almost desperate grip on his hips, undoubtedly leaving bruises on his delicate skin, and pulled him into his arms, Loki managed to break free from the pleasure holding him captive.

“You’re mine now,” Thor groaned, taking Loki’s breath away with a kiss so deep and passionate it made his head spin again immediately. Loki’s hands weakly rested on Thor’s chest, fingers curling slightly as he returned the kiss the best he could. He was close to passing out, so close, but nothing could have pulled him away from this wonderful connection, not if he had a say in it.

“I’ll gladly be yours,” Loki mumbled when they finally broke the kiss, smiling weakly.

“Promise me you will stay mine,” Thor whispered, a hand tenderly brushing a raven lock out of Loki’s face. “No matter what happens, promise me you will be mine and mine alone.”

“For as long as I can be, I promise,” Loki breathed weakly. He laid his head on Thor’s chest after slowly sliding his body off him and closed his eyes. The way his heart beat beneath him, slowing down now but still strong and powerful, made his own feel light and happy. “Only yours.”


	10. Chapter 10

It was late in the afternoon when Loki’s eyes fluttered open again. He was confused by the warmth around him at first and searched for the source, finding Thor’s cloak and his own draped over his body. Apart from that, the bed was empty. For a moment, Loki felt sad that Thor wasn’t next to him, not remembering where they were and what they were here for. Finally it dawned on him and he shook his head to push away those unwanted feelings.

Carefully, Loki shoved himself off the bed. He quickly put his clothes back on, draped his cloak over his shoulders and made his way downstairs with Thor’s cloak in his arms. The huntsman was not in the house itself, but the door stood open and Loki saw him right in front of it, poking a large fire that just started to pick up. He walked out with a smile, leaning against the doorframe.

“And, did you find something good for us?”

Thor was startled by the sudden interruption, but immediately caught himself again and turned around with a smirk.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” the huntsman said and stood up. He walked over to Loki, pressing a kiss on his lips in the sweetest way possible. “I managed to catch a wild boar while you were asleep, so we will have a good meal very soon.”

“Sounds wonderful,” Loki smiled, but Thor could have said they were having snails and snakes for dinner too, it wouldn’t have mattered. This kiss, proving to him that he had not made the previous events up, was more important than what they would eat.

“We need strength, especially you,” Thor said and led Loki down the stairs so he could sit closer to him while he returned to stir the fire. “I assume you are very hungry.”

“I probably am,” Loki chuckled, looking at the huntsman work. “I can’t really tell right now, I’m sorry.”

Thor chuckled himself, but didn’t answer. Loki watched contently how he finished making sure the fire was strong enough before standing up and walking inside. He came back a few moments later with his arms full and Loki suddenly realized he had slept much longer than he thought. Thor had already disassembled the boar he had caught and cut it into pieces he could roast over the fire. Now he pushed the sticks with meat on them into the ground around the flames.

“How long did I sleep?” Loki asked curious and Thor laughed quietly.

“Three hours longer than me, I would guess,” he said amused. “I wanted to wake you up, but you looked too peaceful and I thought you could need your rest more than I do.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you,” Loki said, blushing slightly at Thor’s considering behavior. “Did you sleep at all?”

“A few hours, yes,” Thor said and waved his hand. “I don’t sleep much in general, so I’m good.”

After several more minutes of silence, Thor was done placing and turning the meat skewers and stood back up. He walked over to the stairs as Loki shoved to the side a little, giving him space to sit down too.

“How do you feel?” Thor asked carefully after a moment, giving Loki a worried and gentle look. “You know… after this morning.”

Loki smirked, touched my Thor’s concern. He leaned towards him, giving him a quick kiss. “I feel good,” he finally answered sincerely. “Very good, in fact. How about you?”

“I’m alright,” Thor simply said, cupping Loki’s face gently. “Are you sure you feel good? I thought I might have hurt you…”

“You didn’t, don’t worry,” Loki smiled and leaned into the warm touch on his cheek. “I feel good, just a little… confused, I guess…”

Loki closed his eyes, still smiling. Confused was a weak word for how he felt, but he couldn’t explain it differently. Sex had never played a role in his life, but from the very first moment he had felt strangely attracted to Thor, without realizing it. That they had eventually gone this far was more than he had ever expected, so of course it was confusing him. But he also felt like he had just experienced something very powerful, something that words could not reflect.

“It’s not something happening to me regularly, that’s all,” Loki continued. “Is it normal to feel a little shaky after this?”

“Of course,” Thor smiled and brushed over Loki’s cheek gently. “You don’t have to defend how you feel, not to me.”

“Thank you.” Loki opened his eyes again, searching for Thor’s. There was a brief moment when he wanted to add something to his words, but he didn’t. Instead, he turned his head, kissed the palm of Thor’s hand and stood up to turn the skewers so their meat would not burn on one side. The huntsman didn’t say a word, just watched him in silence.

Even after what they had shared, Loki couldn’t say what he wanted to say. Thor might not know, but words were powerful too and he feared the consequences of those he had on his mind. Under different circumstances he might have ignored those doubts, but he didn’t. If they got out of this alive he would reconsider his decision, but now it was better to focus on what they were about to do and not allow his feelings to take over again.

After half an hour and several more turns, their meat was done and the two men shared a simple but delicious meal. From time to time, Loki caught Thor’s eyes on him and couldn’t help but smile at it. There was something so gentle and sincere in those glances, something that made Loki’s stomach twist slightly. It was a nice feeling, but it carried a bittersweet taste with it. For a second the thought of just grabbing Thor’s hand and running far away occurred to him, but it had no power, no intensity; it was just a little needle poking his chest from the inside, trying to remind him of what was impossible.

When they were done, Loki noticed that the light around them had changed. He looked up at the sky, frowning. Night was coming, they would have to leave soon and face whatever monster this stranger holding Thor’s sister hostage turned out to be. The thought made him sad and he sighed quietly.

“You don’t want to go, do you?” Thor suddenly asked and Loki actually flinched because he felt exposed. He quickly shook his head though, forcing himself to smile.

“No, I just… I still don’t know what any of this means and I’m not sure it will end well for us…”

“We just have to try,” Thor sighed and stood up. “If all else fail we will run, like you said. But I can’t turn back anymore now.”

“Neither can or will I,” Loki said sternly and got up too. The two shared a look, both smirking slightly. “We will get this bastard and take your sister home. Together.”

“Together.” Thor took Loki’s hand, grabbing it as tight as the other, and they nodded. 

They would do this, no matter the consequences. And Loki knew, if things turned sour, he had one last emergency exit. What he didn’t tell Thor was that this exist might as well end the whole world completely if it backfired, but he felt this was not a good thing to say. If the worst case did happen, there was nothing any of them would be able to do anyway.

It took less than twenty minutes until they were ready. Thor put the fire out and Loki gathered the last of his belongings from the house, before they met up at the stairs again. He was slightly nervous, but determined.

“We only have this one chance, remember,” Loki said as they began to leave the place and walked towards the town. “We keep hiding whenever we can and make sure no one sees us. If your sister is close I will be able to sense her powers, no matter if they are under someone else’s control or not.”

“I have your back,” Thor nodded, shouldering his axe. “I can’t do much against magic, but I can get rid of anyone trying to stop us with physical force.”

“Leave the magic to me,” Loki smirked. He brought his hands up, swirling them in a circle for a moment and creating a green ball of light between them as they walked. When he pushed his hands forward, the ball shot into the same direction, detonating around fifty feet away in a bright flash. “I still have some tricks up my sleeves you don’t know about. Now, let’s hurry. Hel is waiting.”


	11. Chapter 11

From the very first moment they stepped into the town, Loki knew something was off. At first glance, everything looked normal; in some houses they spotted candle light, a few people walked through the streets talking quietly, but it all felt wrong to him. Frowning, the witch pulled Thor aside after a few minute and into a side alley.

“What’s wrong?” Thor asked confused, but Loki only shook his head and quickly peeked around the corner. When he looked back at the huntsman his brows were furrowed.

“Don’t you feel it?” he asked. “ _ Everything _ is wrong here.”

Thor looked around, but his face showed no sign of understanding and Loki sighed. This town… it felt like a stage to him. The people, the lights… even the air itself. That Thor couldn’t feel anything was not surprising, but like this, Loki’s senses were overwhelmed and he wouldn’t be able to find Thor’s sister.

“Let me try something,” Loki eventually mumbled, bringing his hands together. It was a long shot, but maybe he was able to lift whatever caused this strange feeling.

He rubbed his palms against one another, moving his lips in a quiet whisper. “Great spirits, grant me clarity to see through the lies in front of me tonight. Help me see what is true and what is not, to differ illusion and reality.”

Loki’s hands began to glow weakly and he closed his eyes before slowly brushing his fingers over his eyelids. For a second, the blue-ish light clung to his face before it began to disappear; sinking into the witch’s eyes. When he opened them again, everything had changed.

“What did you do?” Thor asked stunned and Loki turned his head. When their eyes met, the huntsman gulped. Loki’s eyes were not green anymore; now they were glowing in the same blue that he had just absorbed and underneath them they were a deep, crimson red. “My God…”

“Are you scared?” Loki asked with a smirk. He knew that witnessing magic like this for the first time was frightening for a lot of humans, but Thor slowly shook his head and cracked a weak smile.

“Just surprised…” he laughed.

“You don’t have to worry, this spell helps me see,” Loki explained and peeked around the corner again. He hissed through his teeth before lowering his voice. “And you wouldn’t believe  _ what  _ I’m seeing…”

“What?” Thor asked and stepped up next to Loki. “What do you see? Can you make me see it  too?”

“I can try.” Loki wasn’t sure if it would work, but it was worth trying. He looked at Thor, grabbing him by the neck and pulled their heads together so their foreheads touched. For a long moment they just stayed like this and nothing happened. Then, very slowly, a little bit of the blue light left Loki’s eyes and disappeared in Thor’s. The huntsman’s eyes didn’t change, nor did the glow stay, but Loki still smiled. “And? What do you see?”

Thor pulled back and blinked a few times, as if something was in his eyes - naturally there was, but it was nothing he could actually  _ feel _ . Then, he looked around the corner too and Loki saw his jaw drop.

“By the Gods, what is this?” he whispered.

“This is what lies beneath the illusion,” Loki said mysteriously and grabbed Thor’s hand. “Come, we have to move. I don’t know how long you will be able to see like I do and if we see different things it will be dangerous.”

Thor didn’t protest when Loki began pulling him away. There was nothing he could have said anyway, he was too stunned by everything.

The village that only minutes before had looked peaceful and quiet, now resembled something that could have jumped right out of a nightmare. Everything was dead-silent, there was no light and no warmth, absolutely nothing resembling life. There was just darkness and cold. Thor had never felt such a chilling and overwhelming cold before, it was like he had swallowed a handful of ice that kept freezing him from the inside. Even the ground was partially covered with ice and snow and every single door they walked past was frozen and hidden under a deep layer of ice.

“Loki, what happened here?” Thor asked visibly confused after a few minutes of them walking through this surreal and terrifying place and the witch stopped, without turning around.

“It feels like in my dream…” he said slowly, sighing. “He’s waiting for us to come, I can feel it. And I don’t like it.”

“We can still turn around if you want to.”

“No, we talked about this. I won’t run away,” Loki said sternly and finally looked at Thor. Something was different, but Thor couldn’t tell if it was his mind playing tricks on him or if it was the cold light. Loki looked kind of… blue? As if his skin had absorbed the temperature and was turning into ice too. Thor carefully reached out with his hand, touching Loki’s cheek. It was cold, very cold.

“Are you alright, Loki?” Thor asked worried.

“I have to be,” the witch answered and took Thor’s hand. He pressed a quick kiss against his fingertips and then kept it in his. “I don’t think anyone will attack us, we are wanted here. This is a message, a warning… maybe a strange welcome, I don’t know.”

“If it’s a welcome I have to say I’ve had better ones,” Thor huffed and that actually made Loki laugh. He shook his head and looked up, still smiling.

“Maybe I should have learned some fire spells, don’t you think?”

“After everything I saw I expected you to know some, honestly!”

This made both Loki and Thor laugh, Loki so much that he had to hold his stomach because it started hurting. When the huntsman looked at him again after their laughter faded, Loki looked normal again, not blue anymore, not so cold. He figured he must have made this change up in the first place and took the witch’s hand again.

“I believe we should keep moving,” he said and nodded at Loki. “I feel like I will freeze in place from the cold.”

“Me too,” Loki agreed and they began walking again. “Someone should put a warning sign outside: “Danger! Bring fire and warm clothes.”

“We can put one up when we are done here,” Thor smirked and stepped closer to Loki, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Loki thankfully took his hand and squeezed it. Having Thor this close was reassuring somehow.

If only their joking would have made him feel less frightened. He could play his fear down as much as he wanted, deep down he knew that he was walking straight into his death. The cold was not even what bothered him, neither was the darkness. The fact that he felt less and less like a stranger walking in a foreign country was what frightened him most. As if he belonged here… as if this place reflected something that he was trying to escape.

“Loki, look! What by the Gods  _ is  _ this?”

Thor’s voice snapped Loki out of his thoughts abruptly. He looked around, trying to find the reason for Thor’s surprise and when he did, he felt his heart drop in his chest. They stood in front of a gigantic frozen… what was this even? It looked like a battlefield, as if what had been left of this down here once had been smashed with the force of winter, creating bizarre shapes and even more bizarre formations of ice.

Loki’s hand slipped out of Thor’s and he stumbled into this fascinating and eerie scenery in front of him. This place was just a replica of a different, much more sinister and dark place that he knew was far away from this. As his eyes wandered over the devastation he could almost taste the name of this other place. It was a forbidden, long forgotten name and it suddenly felt like a curse that he should never, under any circumstances, say out loud. And yet, the urge to know was stronger than anything else at that moment.

“Loki!” Thor’s voice sounded far away, but the hand grabbing Loki’s arm just seconds later and spun him around was very real. “What are you doing? Don’t just walk away!”

“We shouldn’t be here,” Loki whispered in an unusual dark and cold voice. Again he had changed the way Thor had seen before, but this time his touch alone felt painful on his cold skin. “We made a mistake, a big mistake… we shouldn’t have come,  _ you  _ shouldn’t have come!”

“Too late,” Thor said sternly and his face darkened. “You have to focus, Loki. Even I can feel that this place is dangerous, but if you go mad now we will die for sure.”

Loki swallowed and looked away from Thor again, at the frozen destruction around them. He was right, of course he was. Whatever this other place was, it was not important now. If he had known it once - and it felt as if he did - it didn’t matter anymore at this point. Thor mattered and Hel and they had to finish this. He had promised...

For a split second, Loki’s mother appeared in front of his eyes; not as a ghost, but the way he had known her all those years ago. A beautiful young woman with a kind, friendly face and a smile that had always made him forget all his worries and fears. He felt his eyes string, but there were no tears or sadness coming with it, just a warm and calm feeling.

_ “You are so strong. Listen to your heart, Loki.” _

Loki knew that the words came from his memory, but it didn’t matter. They reminded him of his promise, just like Thor, and together they managed to pull him away from those other, much darker thoughts. He shook his head slowly, a hand searching for Thor’s arm to hold onto it. When he turned back around, his eyes had turned green again. The spell was gone. Thor could feel that his own vision had changed back to normal too, but their surroundings were still the same. It seemed like they didn’t need spells anymore to see the truth. 

“Remember when I said my magic made you have feelings for me?” Loki asked Thor with a sad smile that made his eyes shimmer. “I wanted you to think so because I wanted to believe it was the same for me. But it’s not, it never was.”

“I knew you were lying,” Thor smiled back, laying a hand on Loki’s cheek. “My feelings for you were real all this time.”

“So were mine for you,” Loki sighed and leaned against the huntsman’s warm touch, a blessing in the sharp, freezing wind that began to pick up around them now. “They scared me, but they were real. They still are.”

_ “What a heartfelt and unnecessarily vain moment indeed…” _

Thor and Loki spun around at once, the raspy, dark and deep cutting through the air like thunder in a silent night. Loki couldn’t stop himself from shaking and leaned against Thor when their eyes fell on the one who had spoken.

There, in the ruins of what appeared to be a church, stood the man from Loki’s dream. He was wearing the same cloak covering his face, but his piercing and ominously red eyes glared out from underneath the hood, directly at Loki. Behind him was a throne made of dark ice; an intimidating picture by itself already. But there was more. Next to the man, with chains keeping her in place and as quiet and unmoving as a statue, was a young child.  _ Hel _ .

_ “At last, the stolen prince has returned to face the truth.” _

Loki felt like his voice had been stolen. With wide eyes, unable to look away from the mysterious stranger, he was frozen in his grip on Thor’s arm, unable to speak. It was his dream all over again. He felt the same helplessness, as if he was reduced to a weak shadow of himself. Just moments before he had felt powerful and strong, now there was almost none of it left, as if the stranger sucked it out of him with just his eyes.

“We are here to take my sister back home!” Thor suddenly said, almost shouted against the wind, and that ripped Loki out of his almost hypnotized state. The cruel and dark laugh that followed the huntsman’s words made Loki’s stomach twist painfully.

“You have no sister, human,” the man grinned, flashing his bright, sharp teeth. “You have come here to die with nothing but pain in your heart.”

“No, we will bring her home,” Loki finally managed to say and glared at the man angrily. “You stole her! We will take her back!”

“Oh, but I only took what is mine, silly boy,” the man said, spreading his arms. “You should know best why, after all,  _ you  _ are the reason I did it.”

“I… what?” Loki felt like he had been slapped across the face. He turned to Thor, who looked just as confused and shocked, and shook his head. “I… I don’t even know you! I have nothing to do with this madness!”

At this, the man’s grin turned into an even more cruel version of itself and he pulled the hood off his head with one of his claw-like hands. Loki stumbled backwards when he saw the man’s face and his eyes grew wide again. There was nothing human about him, absolutely nothing. His skin was blue and old, dark markings and huge scars covering his face and upper body. The red eyes looked even more dangerous now and filled with nothing but hate and evil. The man took a step away from the throne, illuminating himself in the pale moonlight as if he enjoyed the reaction of the other.

“What  _ are  _ you…” Loki whispered, but the answer came to him immediately.  _ A monster _ . This man was a monster from his worst nightmares, a thing parents scared their children with so they would behave and be good. 

“I am the one who will take back what once belonged to me and my kind,” the man said with more disgust in his voice than Loki had ever heard in his life. “Before it was taken from us by the very same creatures you have come here with.”

“You are a monster,” Loki growled, a hand reaching behind him to make sure Thor was not going to step forward. “I will not let you get away with this!”

“What will you do about it, boy?” the man asked and suddenly jerked his head up. It was a tiny gesture, but it was enough to send Thor flying backwards and crashing against one of the ice pillars. Loki spun around, his heart beating faster in his chest. “You can do nothing against me. You cannot win against your own  _ father _ .”


	12. Chapter 12

_ “Where did I really come from, mother?” the little boy asked curious, crawling onto his mother’s lap as she put her book down and smiled down at him. _

_ “But I told you already, Loki,” she said, brushing through his hair. “You came from the forest, a gift from the Gods. Or do you want to hear the story of others like you?” _

_ “No, I mean my parents!” Loki insisted, shaking his head. “I only have a mother, but Eliza said everyone has a mother and a father! Who is my father?” _

_ “Oh, Loki…” his mother sighed and the sadness in her eyes became more obvious. She gently placed a kiss on her son’s forehead. “Sometimes you should not know the truth, believe me. You are my son, even if you were born by a different mother. I love you like my own child and I always will, is this not enough?” _

_ “I suppose,” Loki pouted. “Eliza keeps teasing me about it… she says my real parents didn’t want me because I was weak and dumb and I hate it.” _

_ “Loki, look at me please.” Loki did as his mother told him. “You were never weak and you are not dumb. You are all a mother could wish for, just because you don’t know your father doesn’t mean you are worth any less, do you understand me?” _

_ “Yes, mother,” Loki said and smiled weakly. “But I have one, or not? Even if I don’t know who he is, he exists somewhere.” _

_ “Somewhere, yes. In a far away and heartless place,” his mother said and looked up, out of the window into the snowy night. Her expression was hard, almost like stone, and if Loki would have pressed his ear against her chest, he would have heard her heart beating angrily, he knew it. When she spoke again her words made no sense to the four year old, but they never left him again either.  _

_ “Sometimes it’s better to not know all the answers, Loki. Sometimes the truth hurts too much to live with it. A happy lie is better than a sad truth and you deserve to be happy. We are not who created us, we are who we choose to be, even if we have to lie to ourselves sometimes.” _

The memory vanished as fast as it had appeared. The words, however… they stayed.

“My… father…” Loki’s throat felt dry and bitter, the words like disgusting clots of blood falling out of his mouth. They were ugly, cruel and yet a small part of him recognized them as the truth. A truth he should have never found.

“Loki, don’t believe him!” Suddenly Thor was there, grabbing Loki’s arm roughly and forcing him to look up. “He is a foul, vile monster! Don’t believe a word he says!”

“You have no place to speak here, human,” the stranger said sharply. From the corner of his eyes Loki noticed that the man was moving and without thinking he pushed Thor aside with as much strength as he could summon and the next second felt a stinging pain in his chest that forced him down to his knees with a groan.

“LOKI!”

“ _ Enough _ !”

Another movement, a scream and then Thor fell forward and landed in the snow in front off Loki’s feet. The witch gritted his teeth, pressing a hand against his chest as hard as he could, and looked up at the stranger.

“ _ Stop it _ !” he shouted, now raging with anger and his body heaving with adrenaline. “What do you want from us? From me? You knew I would come here, you  _ knew  _ it! What is it that you want?”

“What is rightfully mine and nothing less.”

The man walked over to Loki and grabbed Thor’s scalp roughly before pulling him up. The pain on the huntsman’s face was too much for Loki to bear, but before he could say a single word Thor was thrown towards the throne like a doll. He rolled over a few times, then laid still on the hard, cold ground. Loki’s anger turned into fury.

“I will stop you, no matter what it takes!” Loki growled and pushed himself away from the man the best he could.

“You cannot stop me and you won’t,” the man laughed cruelly. “Believe that I lie or not, it does not matter. You are my son, the prince who has been stolen by your so-called self righteous mother to prevent me from taking back what belongs to me. But now I don’t need you anymore, now I have someone to replace you. Someone  _ better _ .”

“She didn’t steal me!” Loki shouted, clawing the hand on his chest. The pain began to fade and he knew he had to get up soon, but this man was strong and fast, he had to be careful.

“Did she not?” The man grinned and spat into the snow next to him. “You are my son, the son of Laufey, King of Jotunheim. Whatever names she gave you, whatever fairytale she spun for you, this is the truth.”

Loki wished with all his might that those words were a lie disguised as the truth, but he knew those names. Jotunheim… Laufey...  he knew them, those dark and forbidden names. All his life he had believed they were mythology, a fable of Gods and Giants his mother had loved and read to him before bed, nothing more. 

“You are a liar!” Loki hissed with tears in his eyes. It was enough, he wanted no more of this.

As quick as a cat, Loki jumped to his feet and ran like the wind. He hid behind a huge ice pillar, catching his breath for a moment before closing his eyes and disappearing on the spot. When he appeared again, he stood next to Thor and his sister.

“If I am a liar, how come you can use magic like this?” Laufey laughed, not at all bothered by the fact that Loki had just escaped him.

“Thor!” Loki whispered, ignoring the teasing and tricky question, and shook the huntsman. Thor groaned and moved slightly, but it was enough to relieve Loki. “Thor, you have to wake up. Grab your sister and run!”

“You cannot hide from me, Loki,” Laufey said, now less amused and turned around. Loki could feel his glare before he saw it. “I will give you a chance, just this one.”

“I want no chance, I want you  _ gone _ !” Loki snarled and pushed his hands forward, sending a ball of light into Laufey’s direction. It hit him right in the chest, but there was no effect whatsoever. Loki huffed and growled frustrated. “Thor, please! Wake up!”

“One chance, son,” Laufey continued as if nothing had happened, beginning to walk over to the three others. “Come with me and we will bring glory back to Jotunheim, to our home. With you and Hel, I will restore it to what it once was, before the Gods of these vile creatures destroyed it in their blind rage.”

“And what then?” Loki asked angrily and pulled the huntsman at his feet up. He came back to his senses, but it was slow. Too slow. “What will you do then? Will you destroy this world like you did with this town? Will you slaughter the Gods and humans for what they have done?”

“Is it not what they deserve?” Laufey asked, a hint of surprise in his voice. Good. If Loki could only manage to distract him for a little longer, so that Thor and Hel could escape… if he couldn't win with power, he had to win with tricks.

“Why do you need us anyway? Are you not strong enough by yourself to do it?”

“This is not about strength,” Laufey grinned. “This is about revenge. Revenge for the destruction of our home, revenge for stealing my  _ son _ .”

“Like you stole Thor’s sister?” Loki asked angrily, almost spitting the words at Laufey. “You are no better than them! You don’t deserve revenge!”

Now, finally, Thor was conscious again and Loki urged him silently to free his sister from the chains holding her in place. She was not conscious, that much Loki had noticed, but she was alive and that was all that mattered.

“You should want this even more than me, after all those years of lies and false promises.”

Suddenly, Laufey moved and Loki had no time to react. He smashed his hand against Thor’s head, sending him crashing against the throne and then grabbed Hel’s head by the face. Thor had managed to loosen the chains and now they slid off her arms as Laufey lifted her up.

“This is what your life is, son!” Laufey growled, grabbing his son by the throat with his free hand. “You are the lapdog of a human, nothing more! What a disgrace you have become.”

Laufey’s eyes darkened and his face turned into the cold mask of a killer. Suddenly, the little girl began to scream, so loud that Loki’s ears hurt and he tried to cover them, but it was of no use. He was forced to watch how Laufey’s touch burned Hel’s skin, how the girl screamed in her agonizing pain. It was a sound he had never heard before, so bone chilling that not even the depths of hell would be able to create more torture.

“I’m not your  _ son _ !” Loki shouted with all the strength he had left and grabbed Laufey’s huge hand with his own. His hands began to glow and turned hot, so hot in fact that Laufey had no choice but to let him go. Loki dropped to the ground the same moment Hel did as Laufey let go of her too, but he could still hear her scream and it made him just more furious.

“You dare side with these weaklings instead of your own father?” Laufey asked and now it was Loki who grinned at him. “Instead of your own blood?”

“I don’t side with monsters,” he snarled, grinning. Loki got back on his feet and shot another ball of light at Laufey. This time he had the element of surprise on his side and actually managed to make Laufey stumble backwards. At this, he turned to Thor, who had crawled back to his sister and tried to hold her somehow. “Thor, remember your promise? Now it’s time to keep it.  _ Run _ .”

“Loki, no! I won’t leave you here, I can’t!”

“You  _ promised _ , Thor!” Loki shouted and stormed forward the moment he saw Laufey move again. He used his magic to land a brutal blow right where his magic had hit him, buying them a few precious seconds of time. “Run! Keep your promise and run!”

Thor wanted to protest, wanted to stay and fight, but it was clear that he wouldn’t. Loki looked back over his shoulder one last time, meeting Thor’s eyes. The huntsman had picked his sister up, who was still screaming and holding her face, and for a moment everything between them was clear. All the things they had not said, all the things they had been too afraid to admit - they were understood. And Loki was glad about that.

“Come home!” Thor shouted before he began running back the way they had come from. “Keep  _ your  _ promise too!”

“You will  _ pay _ for this!”

Loki had been distracted just a second too long, giving Laufey enough time to recover from his blows. He spun around, ready to attack, but it was too late and he knew it. Laufey slammed a fist onto the ground and spikes of ice shot up all around Loki. He tried to run, but they were too fast, pinning his cloak and trapping him in. Loki was defenseless when suddenly chains began wrapping around his ankles and crawled up his legs, right to his chest.

“You could have ruled by my side, son,” Laufey said, disappointment and anger filling his voice. He wrapped his long, cold fingers around Loki’s throat again, slowly pressing them together and suffocating the trapped witch. “All wasted because you wanted a human instead. You could have been king one day, king of  _ your  _ kind!”

“I would never want a throne so full of hate and covered in blood,” Loki said with a cracked voice, already weak from the lack of air, and then spit right at Laufey.

“Then you will die like the rest of this world,” Laufey growled and wiped across his face.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Loki grinned and balled his hands to fists at his sides. “I’m not done yet, but  _ you  _ are.”

With the last bit of his strength, Loki yanked his head back and out of Laufey’s iron grip. Blood dripped from the corners of his lips already and the chains began strangling him more and more, but all that was unimportant for a moment. Loki began laughing. It was a violent, manic laugh he couldn’t stop and it echoed back from the walls of ice around them. His head felt wonderfully light suddenly and he turned his eyes skyward in ecstasy.

“Spirits, I call upon you one last time, in my last moments!” he shouted loud enough for his voice to tremble. “Break the chains, break them all and release what chaos they hold back from the world. Magic, I call upon you, the most ancient power in this world! Do as you will! Break free from your boundaries, unleash the chaos and do as you will!” The wind picked up, much stronger than before, and the howling sound was almost deafening to Loki’s ears. He could feel his body prickle, as if a million needles were pressed against his skin and laughed again.

“What are you doing?” Laufey asked, unable to hide the confusion and fear in his words. Loki laughed even more now, loud and crazy. He was losing his mind, but it felt so good!

“Magic, do as you will! Be free from your cage, for I am no longer bending you to my will! I am your servant and soldier and I release you from your prison! You are free! I am your vessel and I am your voice and I release you into this world!”

Loki’s laughter was swallowed by the cracking of ice when lightning struck it out of the blue and the ground began to shake beneath his feet. The chains dropped off his body and he landed on his knees, but there was no way he could move. This was the end. The apocalypse, Ragnarok, the end of days. Loki laughed and laughed as the ground split open, fire broke through the surface beneath him and the wind turned into a hurricane. It was complete chaos and all he could do was laugh at it, unable to stop, as if the chaos was not only around him but inside of him too.

Suddenly, there was an agonizing scream and through the flames and shaking, Loki saw his father impaled by a huge pillar of ice. He groaned in pain, but was unable to escape a slow, painful death and Loki knew it. The irony of this situation made him laugh again, but less intense this time. He dragged himself up, spread his arms and smiled at the sky.

“Do as you will, magic, do as you will!” Loki chanted again, summoning more and more forces into this world that had so long been sealed away. The fight was over, but what he had unleashed had only just begun. Loki didn’t know what would happen, if he had just ended the world or saved it, but it was beyond his power now to stop it.

Then, in what appeared to be a last desperate attempt to save his own life, Laufey made another big mistake - apart from underestimating his son. He opened a portal to Jotunheim, for whatever reason since he was unable to move, and sealed his world’s fate with just one, selfish act. Within seconds the magical forces Loki had summoned came together and rushed through the portal and the witch could only watch as they devoured the body of his father and moved on to a new, unexplored and fresh world to destroy.

Loki sunk to his knees once more, allowing it all to happen. He had drained himself, he was bleeding and bruised and had surely suffered many more major injuries, but the self satisfaction he felt was bigger than all of that. The magic would not destroy Jotunheim completely, but it would devastate it much more than any war ever could. Not even an army of Laufeys would be able to stop it and this thought made him laugh again. When the portal finally closed, it swallowed everything that had happened.

“I made my choice, old man...” Loki whispered, the now calming winds carrying his words away. The ground had stopped shaking, the earth no longer spit fire into the air and the thunder growls had fallen silent again. They were all elsewhere now, bringing the end of days to a different world. “I am not your son, Laufey. I never was. I am Frigga’s son. I never needed a father, I only ever needed her…”

Loki closed his eyes, smiling. He felt light, so light… like a feather in the wind. As if he was carried away, fading into whatever came after this life. He had never felt so at peace with himself before.

“I am one with the magic,” Loki whispered quietly, his voice fading as he spoke. “I’m finally coming home…”


	13. Chapter 13

Thor opened the creaky door of the old hut, greeting a new day. He stretched a few times in the sun before walking over to a big barrel on the side of the house to wash himself. Hel was still asleep and he didn’t dare to wake her - the little girl finally slept again after all this time and he was too glad to disturb her rest. It was spring by now and the forest had come back to life after the long, cold winter months. Soon the flowers would come out and they would be able to spend more time outside.

Three months had passed since the last time Thor had seen Loki and with every day his hopes that he would return soon became a little less. They had come back to Loki’s hut three weeks prior and he had been so sure that Loki would greet them, but the place had been empty and abandoned, with no sign of life anywhere around. Thor still decided to stay, just in case. Hel liked the place, especially the forest itself, and it helped her soul heal.

Now, with spring in the air and the sun on his back, Thor wondered if holding onto the belief that Loki would keep his promise was childish and naive. After all, he had experienced what Loki had done first hand, hadn’t he? The collapsing buildings, the snow storm he had to fight through, the growling in the sky and the thunder… if Loki had been in the center of this, how could he possibly come back? Something so powerful would have surely killed him.

“Thor?” A quiet, cautious voice ripped the huntsman out of his worries and he turned around.

“Outside, dear! Come!”

A few moments later, the small girl appeared in the doorframe, her long black hair messy and her face tired. She rubbed her left eye, searching for her brother with the other one.

“I had a dream,” she simply said and sat down on the stairs.

“What kind of dream?” Thor asked and came over to keep her company. “A nightmare?”

“No, a nice dream,” Hel said and smiled. “That someone came to visit us.”

“A visitor?” Thor was surprised. Hel had never told him about such a dream before. “Who was it?”

“A man,” Hel said and finally lowered her hand. She looked at Thor, smiling brightly. “He was really pretty! Tall and kind and he was very, very sweet! And he could do all kinds of tricks too!”

“That sounds wonderful, dear,” Thor smiled too now, unable not to with just how happy his little sister looked this morning. It was a very rare thing to happen. “I’m glad you are not having any more nightmares.”

“Do you think he will really come?” Hel asked curious, looking into the forest to her right. “He said he would visit us soon…”

“It was a dream, but maybe he will really come.” Thor didn’t believe in such things of course, but then again his sister was not an ordinary child. Maybe her dream visitor would come after all. Thor had experienced much more crazy things in the past.

“I hope he comes,” she sighed and rested her chin on her hands. “I want to learn how to do those tricks too, he said he would show me. He told me his name too, but it’s a secret.”

“A secret?” Thor raised a brow, eyeing his giggling sister closely.

“Yes, he said I have to keep the secret and not tell anyone.” Hel still giggled, but it was ebbing away. She swung her feet back and forth slowly, smiling. “I want to pick flowers today. Can we go find some?”

“Of course we can, sweetheart,” Thor smiled and ruffled her hair. “But first we have to eat something.”

As he watched his sister run back inside to get dressed, Thor thought that children were truly weird sometimes. Hel had recovered very fast from her injuries luckily, but the damage inside would take much longer to heal, he knew that. The first month she had been plagued with horrible nightmares, had woken up screaming and crying and in complete panic. Those nightmares were almost gone now, but Thor knew she was far from alright. Most of the time now she was happy and cheerful, but there were moments when all of this disappeared within a second and her face turned dark. He was sure that she remembered then, something that had happened to her, but she never spoke about it and Thor couldn’t make her.

Of course the day he had lost Loki and found his sister had left more than just scars on the inside, for both of them. What Laufey had done to Hel’s face was nothing that would ever go away again. To Thor it made no difference, but he knew Hel suffered from it. The left side of her face had changed permanently. It was blue now, just like that cursed monster had been, and her left eye was now red instead of green. 

What Hel probably did not remember was that this was the sister Thor had loved ever since she came into his life. That night, his mother had brought the small baby back from the cold. Thor had never seen something so beautiful and fragile in his life and her blue skin only increased his fascination with her. When she was happy her eyes were a beautiful green, when she was angry they turned red. Other than that she was a normal baby, sweet and lovely and winning his heart with no effort at all.

As she grew up, Thor had noticed that Hel didn’t seem to notice she was different and he had been glad about that. His mother had insisted to keep Hel’s existence a secret from the outside world and he hadn’t minded - he loved her anyway, no matter if they were alone or not. What Laufey had done was, in a way, to bring his old sister back. As much as he hated this creature for hurting her, it was nice seeing her again the way he knew her.

Thor did all he could for his sister, but it was always a little difficult. Not because of her nightmares or those moments when she became distant, but because Thor himself was still trying to cope with his recent loss and had times when he wanted to just lay down and not think or do anything. Hel was a sunshine most of the time and very smart and Thor loved her unconditionally, but it always felt as if something was not going right.

A few days after telling Thor about her dream, Hel had discovered a small sack with marbles somewhere in the hut and decided to play with them outside. It was sunny and warm and her distraction gave Thor the time to take care of some of the firewood he had collected over the last days. He carried it over to a spot where he could keep an eye on Hel, got out of his tunic and shirt and started his work. After a few minutes he had found his rhythm, splitting log after log with ease. At one point, Hel began to sing a children’s song their mother had taught her and it made work much easier.

It was almost noon when the wood was ready and Thor began carrying it over to a dry place. Two or three more days like this and they would have enough stacked up for the next winter. There was still much time, but Thor wanted to be prepared just in case. He was about to pile up the third load of wood when he suddenly heard a surprised gasp from his sister. Without thinking, Thor dropped the logs in his hands and ran around the hut to see what was going on.

Hel was running into the forest and at first Thor had no idea why. Then, he saw the strange figure in the distance - tall, a black fur cloak covering him from head to toes and a stick in his hand. Thor’s body reacted on its own and he stormed after his sister, ready to fight whoever dared to lay a hand on her. Suddenly, however, he tumbled and stopped when the stranger lifted Hel up and hugged her. As he did, the hood of his cloak slid off his face and Thor froze in place.

“He came, Thor! He came!” Hel screeched excited, still being held by the stranger and looking happier than ever before. “I told you he’d come! He did!”

“It’s been a while,” the stranger said, a smile spreading on his lips. “I apologize for taking so long, but I promised to come back, didn’t I?”

“Loki… is that really you?” Thor couldn’t believe his own eyes. His feet began to move without him realizing it as he stared at Loki’s familiar and yet so different face. It was definitely him, but something had drastically changed. Thor couldn’t say what it was, but it was there.

“You kept your promise,” Loki said and carefully put Hel back down on the ground. “And I wanted to keep mine. I came home.”

“I never thought I would see you again,” Thor mumbled and reached out to touch Loki’s face with his hand when he was close enough. “I cannot believe you are here…”

“I am, Thor, I promise I am,” Loki smiled and leaned forward. Thor didn’t wait for even a second before he pulled him into a long anticipated kiss. When he let go of Loki again, he was filled with the most utter happiness.

“You really came back…”

“Thor is happy, Thor is happy!”

For a moment, Thor actually forgot about his sister and was confused when she suddenly cheered and jumped at him from the side. Loki pulled away and chuckled when Thor picked Hel up, shaking his head.

“Did you know about this?” Thor asked his sister, who grinned wide and happy.

“I told you! He said it’s a secret!” she answered excitedly. “He told me you would be very happy to see him, but he wanted to surprise you! Right, Loki?”

“Precisely,” Loki smiled and brushed the little girl’s hair gently. “I didn’t want her to worry about my visit, she never saw me before. So, I visited her in her dreams first.”

“I think I have to sit down for a moment,” Thor huffed, his lips jerking into a smirk. This was unbelievable. First, Loki came back after all this time and then he found out his sister knew all this time and had kept it a secret from him. He wasn’t mad at all, just completely and absolutely baffled.

Loki smiled, took Hel from Thor’s arms and put her down. He winked at her and the little girl ran back to her marbles, leaving the two adults alone for the moment.

“I would have been here sooner, but it took some time to regenerate,” Loki said after a minute, taking one of Thor’s hands. “You are not mad at me for letting you wait so long, are you?”

“Loki, you could kill me and I would not be mad at you!” Thor laughed and pulled the witch into a tight and possessive embrace. “I thought you dead, I really did. I never believed I would see your face again!”

“Well, it’s not really my face anymore…” Loki said ashamed, looking up. “It changed a bit, didn’t it?”

“A little, but you are still you,” Thor smiled, resting his head against Loki’s. “I can’t believe you survived this chaos! It felt like the end of the world!”

“Oh, it was,” Loki laughed and wrapped an arm around the huntsman happily. “But it wasn’t this world, luckily!”

Thor had no idea what Loki meant, but he knew he would find out soon. They had all the time in the world to talk and catch up on what had happened. Loki was back, they were together and safe, all three of them - what else was important? This was something he never expected to happen and he had never before been happier.

When they reached the hut and sat down on the stairs, watching Hel play with her marbles, Thor knew it was finally over. All of it. No more fighting, no more death and sadness. He had Loki back, he had found his sister and that was all he needed to be happy. When Loki closed his eyes and laid his head on Thor’s lap, the huntsman smiled contently, fingers lazily brushing through the long, black locks.

“Tell me, was it true what Laufey said?” Thor asked, his curiosity to find out the truth too strong to ignore it completely. At this, Loki opened his eyes and looked up at him.

“Would it change anything if it were?” he asked and Thor smiled at him gently.

“Of course it wouldn't,” he said. “I love you, Loki. Nothing will change that, ever.”

“I love you too,” Loki mumbled, sighing quietly. “And what he said was true, yes. After everything I was somewhere between life and death and didn’t know if I would make it or not. The spirits showed me the truth. Frigga, my mother, was my real mother. She knew what Laufey wanted to do with me and wanted to protect me, so she took me and escaped from Jotunheim to come here. She raised me as if I were a findling, to not raise any suspicion.”

“So she never found you in the forest,” Thor said, slightly confused. “But… what about Hel? Why did my mother found her just like yours said she found you?”

“Because this is what they do with children they don’t deem worthy,” Loki answered sadly. “They abandon them to live in the human world, where they call themselves witches. If they don’t die, of course. Hel must have appeared weak when she was born, but her magic is even stronger than mine and I think Laufey found out about that later, so he took her back.”

Thor looked over at his little sister, who laughed while playing with her marbles. She appeared to be a normal child, apart from the way she looked now. It was strange to imagine she could hold so much power in her.

“It was a miracle your mother found her, Thor,” Loki interrupted the huntsman’s thoughts, drawing his attention back at him. “She could have died out there easily.”

“This all sounds so strange…”

“I know what you think,” Loki smiled sadly. “My mother lied to me about where I came from. I she would have told me the truth, things might have been easier. But I am glad she hid this part of my past from me.”

“Why that?”

“Because it shows how much she loved me. She wanted me to grow up as a normal child, without the burden of my father’s plans or the gruesome things he wanted to do with me. And she was always a good mother. She was kind and loving and protective.” Loki stayed silent for a long minute, searching for the right words to continue. “She never wanted Laufey to use me for his plans, that’s why she lied. And I’m grateful for it.”

“So am I,” Thor smiled, brushing his hands through Loki’s long locks and looking at him gently. “You have grown up to be so strong, Loki. You are such an impressive person and if it weren’t for her, I would have never met you.”

“Do you think we can leave this all behind?” Loki asked, looking up at the huntsman. “All those lies and the pain and bad things? Can we be happy together?”

“I will do anything in my power to make sure we will be. All of us,” Thor promised and leaned down for one of a million kisses that would follow, for the first time in his life knowing he had everything he could ever wish for. Yes, they would be happy together, he would make sure of that. As long as he had Loki, everything was good in this world.


End file.
